"The Big Bank Robbery" is the seventeenth episode of the first season of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on January 20, 1961.
Synopsis[]
Two bank robbers drop their loot into Barney's backyard, which he and Fred plan to spend, but are stopped by their wives and told to send it back to the bank. However, the two get mistaken for the bank robbers, leaving Wilma & Betty to now fix everything.
Plot[]
Two bank robbers named Benny and Fingers are closely pursued by police and decide to discard their 86,000 dollar "haul" and collect it at a later time. Unable to discriminate about the place for this desperate action, Fingers throws the sack of money out off his and Benny's speeding car and over the fence to Barney's backyard, in which Fred is idling in Barney's hammock. The loot descends atop of Fred precisely as Fred is wishing aloud for a monetary windfall.
Wilma and Betty urge Fred and Barney to deliver the money to the authorities, and Fred and Barney put the hefty sack of dollars in the trunk of Fred's car in honest intention of doing as their wives instruct. However, the pair learn from Fred's car radio that the Rockville Bank is offering a reward for the money's return to its vault and opt to bring the money to this bank, stopping first at a gasoline station so that Fred's car can be replenished with "fuel".
The station attendant knows from his own radio about the robbery and unbeknownst to Fred and Barney finds the sack of riches in Fred's car trunk. After Fred and Barney leave the gasoline station, the attendant calls the police and reports Fred and Barney as perpetrators of the heist. Fred and Barney hear a radio update on the crime clearly describing them as the culprits- and panic, escaping a police chase and returning to home to tell Wilma and Betty that they must now flee Bedrock, leaving their wives to fend for themselves.
After Fred and Barney have departed to hide in a wilderness, Wilma and Betty deduce that capture of the robbers is Fred and Barney's only hope to have a normal, settled life and, pretending to be the girl-friends of thugs, go to every disreputable eatery in Bedrock and speak about the 86,000 dollars being "stashed" at Fred's address.
As the wives have hoped, Benny and Fingers overhear their talk of the loot and hasten to collect it. Also, Fred has come home with Barney to obtain the stolen money so that the police will not find it on Fred's premises, and in the ensuing commotion, Fred inadvertently vanquishes Benny and Fingers by abruptly opening the door to his house with them painfully on the other side of the sideways crashing portal.
Summoned by Wilma and Betty, the police apprehend the crooks, and Fred is rewarded but as usual brags about his accidental heroics being intentional, so that Wilma, Betty, and Barney are able to "blackmail" him into letting them spend the reward money lest they tell Bedrock that Fred is not being truthful.
Characters[]
- Fingers and Benny (only appearance)
- Sergeant (only appearance)
- Police officer (only appearance)
- Fred Flintstone
- Barney Rubble
- Betty Rubble
- Wilma Flintstone
- Gas station attendant (only appearance)
- Bartender (only appearance)
- Reporter #1 (only appearance)
- Reporter #2 (only appearance; no lines)
Locations[]
Bedrock[]
- Flintstone home
- Gas station (only appearance)
- The Poiple Dinosaur (only appearance)
Rockville (TV screen only)[]
- Rockville National Bank (only time mentioned)
- Rockville Department Store (only time mentioned)
Objects[]
- Bag of money (only appearance)
- Sundial watch
- Fred's Hammock
- Sewing Machine
- Rock Radio
- Traffic Light
- Flintstones' TV
Food[]
- Champagne (only mentioned)
- Lemonade (only mentioned)
Animals[]
- Pelicansaurus (as a watering can)
- Bird (as a sewing machine)
- Mammoth (as a gas tank)
- Pterodactyls
Vehicles[]
- Bank robbers' car (only appearance)
- Police car
- Flintmobile
Media[]
- Rockville News (news broadcast)
Cast[]
| Alan Reed | Fred Flintstone Louie Benny |
|---|---|
| Jean Vander Pyl | Wilma Flintstone |
| Mel Blanc | Barney Rubble Cop #1 Bird |
| Bea Benaderet | Betty Rubble Mama Pterodactyl |
| John Stephenson | Fingers Sergeant Announcer Attendant |
Notes/Trivia[]
- Instead of Bedrock, the locale is repeatedly given as "Rockville."
- Also, Fred's address is 345 Stone Cave Road, yet 13 weeks before in "No Help Wanted", it was 201 Cobblestone Lane.
Errors[]
- How could Wilma and Betty be watching the 12:00 P.M. news? If earlier in that episode, Barney woke Fred up from his hammock at 1:00 P.M., all on the same day too.
| Season 1 of The Flintstones |
|---|
| "The Flagstones" • "The Flintstone Flyer" • "Hot Lips Hannigan" • "The Swimming Pool" • "No Help Wanted" • "The Split Personality" • "The Monster from the Tar Pits" • "The Babysitters" • "At the Races" • "The Engagement Ring" • "Hollyrock, Here I Come" • "The Golf Champion" • "The Sweepstakes Ticket" • "The Drive-In" • "The Prowler" • "The Girls' Night Out" • "Arthur Quarry's Dance Class" • "The Big Bank Robbery" • "The Snorkasaurus Hunter" • "The Hot Piano" • "The Hypnotist" • "Love Letters on the Rocks" • "The Tycoon" • "The Astra' Nuts" • "The Long, Long Weekend" • "In the Dough" • "The Good Scout" • "Rooms for Rent" • "Fred Flintstone: Before and After" |