The Whole Wide World

I was thrilled to read the (almost) unanimous praise for this FANTASTIC little movie by fellow viewers, and I must chime in with my wholehearted agreement. Every once in a while you blunder across an under-financed and straight-to-video movie that just absolutely flattens you with that rare convergence of talent, story & production, and you're reminded anew of just how powerful a film can be.

Most of the previous postings give a good outline of the plot, so I won't recap it here. "The Whole Wide World" is remarkable in all sorts of ways, but I must use my space here to further celebrate the masterful acting of the leads, Vincent D'Onfrio (as Bob Howard) and Renee (as Novalyne Price). Indeed, the skill of the portrayals completely conveys the sense of time, place and emotional temperament necessary to draw us into their worlds--and break our hearts. And yeah, you're just absolutely made of stone if you're not weeping just a little as the credits roll(or trying hard not to). It's testament to D'Onfrio's amazing talent that we can clearly see Bob's misanthropic shortcomings, but still we hope this tragic misfit of a guy can (as another fan wrote here)"meet her half way." A DEEP, insightful performance by Vincent who has quietly been doing the same in lesser roles for decades now.

And I gotta give Renee her full due as well. She was EXCELLENT, fully credible, spiky, tender, flirtatious, frustrated, and ultimately emotionally exhausted trying to figure out this neurotic but strangely charming man she tried to get close to. Seeing this movie reminds me of "Casablanca" in the sense that you can't imagine anyone else in the Bogart & Bergman roles; no doubt other actors would have given their all, but I can't see how anyone other than Vincent & Renee could have spiked our hearts so fiercely.

Who would have ever thought that such a GREAT movie could be made of the abortive love life of Robert E. Howard? Of course that's not really what makes the movie great--as Flaubert said when asked to identify Madame Bovary, he replied "I am;" and so it is with "The Whole Wide World," where we are poignantly reminded of our own failures to engage with life and love in the ways we believe they should play out.

Again, I'm THRILLED to see how many other fans recognize the unique quality of this movie. I encountered it obliquely, noting its synopsis in the New Yorker back in '96 and thinking "what a curious thing to base a movie on." For some reason my sister tracked it down and loaned me a dubbed-from-TV video cassette; crummy video and sound, but the movie still BLEW ME AWAY (and it still does--thankfully it's now available on DVD). Given Renee's star power I don't think it will ever vanish completely, but we can only hope others will take a chance on this little masterpiece so it can one day receive the acclaim its excellence deserves.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't put in a small plug here for Robert E. Howard the pulp fictioneer; it wasn't complete hyperbole for Novalyne to dub him "the best pulp fiction writer..." His writing stands up well today; plenty of brawny page-turning adventure that still delivers fabulous escapist thrills for guys. But if some of us guys can watch this movie and worship it, I'd bet at least a few of the girls can read some Robert E. Howard today and get a sense of the tough-but-hurting guy depicted in the movie. But one certainly need not read Howard to appreciate this amazing movie on its own stellar merits.

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.

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-

Set in 1930's small town Texas are two unlikely characters: one who is an accomplished writer and one who "wants to be". Their journey is a rare story these days (writing this in 2009) in writing or on the screen. Not since watching "84 Charring Cross Road" have I applauded such realism. Bob Howard, famed author of "Conan the Barbarian" is seen as he was in real life through the eyes of an unusually brave woman, Novalyne Price (the story taken directly from her book "One Who Walked Alone").

Howard (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) was a real loner who found himself in love; an impossible situation for any recluse, let alone a perhaps misunderstood misanthropic one. Price (played by Rene Zellweger), carries the other hard end of the bargain, a sociable yet independent single woman in 1930's Texas who's burden of loving him is even more unimaginable to bear, but not in any of the trite ways one might think. Most of us cower from those who do not "behave" as society dictates, or to be more blunt, as our loved ones dictate; Price does and doesn't, in a classy yet grounded blend of grace. Both characters are surprising and totally human. Shot in only 24 days, this "little" movie is a buy-to-own keeper. No wonder Zellweger went on to movie stardom after this role.

To quote Rene, her performance is in part "Many thanks to Vincent". An amazing portrait of the best of both actor's range of talent. Recommended highly.

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.