The Whole Wide World

1996 "Based on a true story."
7| 1h46m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 08 September 1996 Released
Producted By:
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.multicom.tv/library/Whole_Wide_World,_The
Info

In 1930s Texas, pulp fiction master Robert E. Howard is introduced to Novalyne Price, a teacher with aspirations of becoming an author herself, and they begin a unique relationship filled with conversation and imagination. Although the possibility exists for romance, Howard's obsession with his work and dedication to his sick mother leads Price to look elsewhere for love, leaving Howard feeling betrayed and alone.

Genre

Drama, Romance

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Director

Dan Ireland

Production Companies

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The Whole Wide World Audience Reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
SnoopyStyle It's 1933 Brownwood, Texas. Schoolteacher Novalyne Price (Renée Zellweger) is introduced to successful pulp writer Robert E. Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio). He's most famous for the sword and sorcery series 'Conan the Cimmerian'. She's struggling to get her stories published. He's a man outside of the conventional world living with his parents. They have an up and down relationship that ultimately ends when he kills himself after the death of his protective mother.These are two good performances of an interesting relationship. It's a little unconventional and restricted by the reality of his death. I also wonder if it's better to be a straight biopic of Robert. His life is the far more interesting one and there are possible avenues to explore. Their relationship never seems to go to the next level which his death cuts short. I would really like to see more of his relationship with his mother and his professional life. Nevertheless, this is an interesting relationship that is different from most movies.
funkyfry I have to admit up front, I originally sought this movie out because I'm a dedicated fan of the enigmatic pulp genius Robert E. Howard, who ended his prolific career by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head in 1936. This movie is based on the memoirs of a woman he was involved with named Novalyn Price. So again to be up front, this movie is very pleasing to me as a fan of Bob Howard. It reveals some of the negative aspects of this man (although skimming clear of his extreme racist views, which to be fair he tended to show more in his writing than in his personal behavior) but also shows us a lot of his heart and the beauty of his writer's soul that always found such tortured expression in the famous "Conan" and "Solomon Kane" stories. But I think the movie is going to be just as pleasing to those who are not fans of Howard's writing -- perhaps even more so, because this isn't really a movie just about a writer, it's about a relationship between two writers. And it's a messy, very realistic relationship at that.This was a very early film for Renee Zellweger, and I was impressed right away with the ability she shows here in this film. None of her subsequent and often acclaimed performances have matched what she did here, opposite the great character actor Vincent D'Onofrio who brings Howard himself to vivid life. The movie is all about these 2 people -- there are no action scenes, there is no real drama except a manufactured drama that Bob Howard creates to compensate for his inadequacy and lack of resolve. There are many powerful scenes where these 2 people are consumed in an atmosphere of natural beauty, which suggests the world of imagination inside these writers -- Novalyn says from the hillside "you can see the whole wide world from up here" and Howard says "other worlds, too." Always the sense of what Bob Howard's imaginary world could look like is bubbling beneath the surface of what we see -- never do the film-makers stoop to any actual visualization of the fantasy universe, but sound effects and music are effectively used to create that sense of his dangerous and exotic fantasy world, while at the same time there is an emptiness around Novalyn's literary aspirations which contrasts with it. There are always two stories battling here -- a love story between two human beings and a sort of journey in stasis between two writers.There's no way to put into precise words just how incredible I think D'Onofrio's performance is here. Again, as a longtime fan of Bob Howard, I can say that the performance matches my image of him down to the smallest physical mannerisms. As a treat for fans we even get to see Bob in his late phase when he wore a sombrero and liked to walk the streets of El Paso "disguised" as a Mexican. All of Bob's paranoia and his contradictions are on display, and even more fascinating when put into the light of day by dramatic action -- he was a man whose ego demanded absolute self-sufficiency, but who had such deep emotional ties to his small circle of family and friends that he was unable to cope with any kind of loss in his life. The manufactured drama when Bob finds out that Novalyn is dating his friend Truett is just one of the more harmless examples of this, but Novalyn's perspective as expressed in the film enables us to see how deeply Bob Howard's behavior must have hurt and alienated the very people he needed and trusted so deeply. The pain and confusion are brilliantly expressed in Zellweger's performance, and there are also a pair of excellent supporting performances from Ann Wedgeworth and Harve Presnell as the Howard parents.This is a beautiful film, this is a film that has a world of emotion while having absolutely no stylized or melodramatic plot devices to push us one way or the other in our feelings -- it just unfolds at the pace of its story and draws us in to the lives of 2 people in a particular place and time. They are people who don't seem to fit -- a big awkward hulk of a fantasy writer whose hard working Texan neighbors think he's a sissy, and a headstrong woman trying to make a career for herself in the same conservative universe. But through the eye of this cinematic gem, they both seem to belong in this time and place and we feel as if they left a bit of their hearts behind in their writings so that we could discover it with them.
BEschner We are Surprised at how many people said this movie was wonderful. We fast-forwarded through most of the long, drawn-out walking and driving scenes. (Similar to the movie "THE War Of The Worlds".) That, and the arguments and disagreements were depressing.On the other hand, Vincent D'Onofrio did a great job portraying his character. He reminded us of my nephew.OK, now I need 10 lines of text for this submission to be accepted. That would make this comment long and drawn out, just like the movie was. And almost as boring. But that would be really hard to be more boring than the movie was.
vitaleralphlouis A wonderful romantic movie and obviously a labor of love for all concerned in its production. "One Who Walked Alone" as a miraculously excellent memoir, written by Novaline Price-Ellis decades after the events portrayed, based upon notes she had written at the time. The interplay between Novaline and Robert is mostly conversations when he takes her for a drive and "shoots off his mouth." Here's the greatest action writer in history, with worldwide fans, living with his mother in a town where nobody sees him as either hero or star, just a big over-sized hunk who lives with his folks. Vincent d'Ofrino is ALWAYS a joy to watch and Rene Zellwiger can always be depended upon for a solid performance. As for sex appeal, Rene is definitely not a plump or fat Brigit Jones but rather she's slender, lithe, and not heavy enough to hold down a job as a paperweight. In other words, just what this 6'4" hunk goes after --- every time. But aside from that, Whole Wide World is the kind of great movie you'll never forget. Search for it in VHS or DVD and go to a specialty store if need be.