The Whole Wide World

I love listening to the audio commentaries after I've watched a film. It shows me how much the actors or crew members felt making the film. There is a big difference between a film and a movie. A film holds you to your seat because of the quality of the writing and acting. A movie is usually exciting, but it may or may not have persons who can or cannot act in it's line-up. I consider "The Whole Wide World" in the former category. I can't say enough about this film.

The story is simple enough. Vincent D'Onofrio plays Robert E. Howard, arguably the greatest pulp magazine writer of all time. He is the creator of the Conan series of magazine and movie fame. Howard falls in love with Novalyn Price, a woman who wants to be an author, but has no talent. She is played by Renn' Zellweger, who brings fire to this "mousey" character. Price realizes her destiny lays in teaching and pursues that course in her life. Zellweger's performance is exceptional as her 5'5" frame faces down the 6'4" frame of D'Onofrio.

D'Onofrio's performance in this film is beyond exceptional. He kept me emotionally attached to the character of Howard through out the film. I cried at the end.

As one of the producers of this film, D'Onofrio was able to keep the film on track. But something tells me that he believed so much in the film that he took on the problems himself and protected the project. I loved the Greyhound bus, by the way. It was one of his additions.

This film was Dan Ireland's first major film and he did exceptionally well. He knew the caliber of actors he was working with and let them do their job. The actors also let him do his job as well. Surprisingly in the commentary I could tell that he watched his stars and learned from them

Like I said, I can't say enough about this film. I rented it from Netflix and have watched it several times. It is definitely a keeper and my order on Amazon is already in the works.

Released in 1996, the movie focuses on budding writer Novalyne Price Ellis (Renée Zellweger) and her experiences with famous pulp writer, Robert E. Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio), creator of Conan the barbarian and other characters, like Kull, Solomon Kane and Red Sonya. The events take place in central Texas (Cross Plains and Brownwood) during the last two years of Howard's life, 1934-1936, and are based on Novalyne's memoirs "One Who Walked Alone" and "Day of the Stranger: Further Memories of Robert E. Howard." Ann Wedgeworth is on hand as Robert's sickly mother.

Howard's great imagination and expertise with words made him "the greatest pulp fiction writer in the whole wide world," as he was known. Unfortunately he died way too young at the age of 30 but, thankfully, he was prolific and so we have a lot of material by him to enjoy. It has always been a mystery to me why this talented man died the way he did, but this film gives life to REH's last two years and helps the viewer understand what happened.

This is a true-life drama with elements of romance consisting of the simple way of life of a writer, his parents and friends in the plains of central Texas in the mid-30s. Most of the sequences take place at the quaint Howard abode, the theater in Brownwood, the school where Novalyne taught and, mostly, Robert & Novalyne driving the desolate landscapes or walking and talking, sometimes in conflict. In other words, this is a simple drama. The potency comes with the subject matter, Robert E. Howard. I found the drama gripping as insights emerge in the dialogues and other sequences.

The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes and was shot in the heart of Texas (Austin, Bartlett, Bastrop and Rockne).

GRADE: A-

Before I saw this movie a few years ago, I had never heard of "Robert E Howard". Since then, I've educated myself on who Robert E Howard was...and who Novalynn was. He was extraordinary and she drank him up. It's incredible that someone took her book and made a movie out of the story. Even more incredible is how perfectly it was all orchestrated. The characters were fantastic (Especially Vincent DiOnofrio). The script was great, the filmwork was beautiful, the timing was right on. I will never grow tired of this movie. And I'll continue to turn it onto whoever comes over to my house and hasn't seen it yet. The Whole Wide World is a masterpiece!

This is actually a very lovely movie indeed. Everybody has heard of the pulp fiction stories of Conan the Barbarian but only hard core fans do know the story behind its writer Robert E. Howard, who created this fantasy hero in 1932. Unfortunately he died at the age of only 30. In his short very productive life he enjoyed literary success but had also, though inspiring and romantic, a not quite fulfilling love affair with Novalyne Price Ellis. The movie is historically and biographically correct. Very prettily filmed and characterisations seem to be truthful with accents and all. I definitely learned something new and enjoyed the skillful and atmospheric movie-making.

If there was only 1 movie ever, I would suggest anyone to watch, this would be the movie that I would suggest. I came across it on Netflix, DVD rentals, and rented it because the storyline seemed interesting, and I like Renee. I had never heard of this movie, and at the time it came out in 1996, I was working too many hours to even know what was in the movie theaters. Vincent D'Onofrio is more than amazing in this role, and should have been nominated and won the Oscar for this part. For me, his portrayal of his character in this movie is the best I have ever seen any actor do. Vincent's portrayal brings out Renee's character beautifully; how could she not act like she did, working against such an amazing actor. This screenplay is beautifully written, from Novalyne Price-Ellis's true book she wrote herself, covering her relationship with Robert E. Howard. I had no idea who he was, but after this movie, have read up on his life, and will purchase Novalyne's book, "One Who Walked ALone", from which this movie was taken. Great directing, screenplay, photography, acting, music; a movie that could not have been put together any more beautifully. BRAVO to all, thank you for one of the best movie experiences I have had, at the age of 48. Shame on whomever did not spend the money to distribute and advertise the heck out of this movie when it came out in 1996. I will purchase the DVD, and will buy it for gifts for many, but wish they had put more in the "special features", than only Renee's chat. Why not all of the "deleted scenes", "the making of", etc...Janet, NYC, Feb 2007