The Whole Wide World!

I've been wanting to see this movie ever since I read about it. I missed it in the theater, but then so did everyone else from what I gather. This is the kind of small movie that is ideal for home viewing. Set in Texas during the Great Depression, it tells the story of an almost romance between Novalyne Price and Robert E. Howard. Howard of course is the famous pulp writer who created King Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and most famously Conan the Barbarian. Only Conan rates a mention in this story as we meet Howard in 1933 and he's found success with the brawny Cimmerian in the pulps and some small bit of fame.


A lovely young woman named Novalyne wants to meet the famous writer and finds "Bob" Howard, a galoot of a writer, backward and charismatic, who lives at home with his dad and mom and writes with a gusto unmatched. The two talk and drive and talk some more and the romance begins to grow as she becomes fascinated by his peculiar but compelling nature and he seems finally to have found someone who can take him for what he is, at least in small doses.


But the story is a spare one with lots of chatting. If you're expecting action, this ain't the movie for you. We get a few snatches of lines from various Conan stories, but that's as close to blood and thunder as it gets most of time.

What you do see is a sweet performance by Renee Zellweger that shows a woman who wants more than the world normally allows a woman at this time, and she's not afraid of the eccentric fellow who most of the town dismisses as mad.


Vincent D'Onofrio gives his all to the role of Howard, a guy who is full of conflicts and passions and has a deep yearning to find a woman to share his life with, but who cannot bring himself to tear away from his mother who at once needs him and seems also to want to keep him near.

There are some beautiful scenes in this movie and some lovely understated music. This is a sweet movie, that can be difficult to watch as you know what is going to happen to Howard ultimately. When the worst does occur, the way the movie handles it is surprising and consistent with the flick to that point told from Novalynne's perspective.


That's the thing about this movie, it's not really about Howard. It's derived from a book by Novalyne Price titled One Who Walked Alone and it is through her eyes that we behold the tragedy that is Howard's life. She knows but cannot stop him from shambling toward his fate. Even knowing how it must end, you find yourself hopeful in some scenes that he will choose differently than he does, but it cannot be.

Great little movie, but don't go expecting Conan, he makes only a small appearance and by proxy then through Howard's imagination, where he came from originally. That is unless you count the cover of the Weird Tales pulp that shows up in the movie several times.

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