The Whole Wide World

Starring:Vincent D'Onofrio, RenÃ©e Zellweger, Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell, Benjamin Mouton, Michael Corbett, Helen Cates, Marion Eaton, Chris Shearer, Leslie Berger, Libby Villari, Sandy Walper, Dell Aldrich, Elizabeth D'Onofrio, Antonia Bogdanovich, Stephen Marshall, Jake Graves
Director: Dan Ireland
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Director Dan Ireland shows a talent for authenticity with this heartbreaking love story based on Novalyne Price's 1988 account of her prickly romance with 1930s pulp-fiction writer Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. She was a schoolteacher in a small Texas town; he was the odd-ball writer who lived at home and created comic-book characters that were sexier and more violent than was considered decent by the locals. Renée Zellweger's performance is a gem of sweet unconventionality matched by Vincent D'Onofrio's powerful show of eccentricity and increasing mental illness. Though smart and feisty, this leaves us wishing the filmmakers had dug deeper into Howard's unusual relationship with his manipulative mother. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Description

In Texas in the 1930s, young school teacher Novalyne Price meets a handsome, eccentric and interesting young man named Robert Howard. He's a successful writer of the pulp stories of 'Conan the Barbarian'; she's an aspiring author. A friendship develops into a sort of courtship. Based on a memoir by Novalyne Price. Stars Academy Award® nominee Vincent D'Onofrio and Renée Zellweger (Chicago).

Customer Reviews:

Fine, Very Fine Work.......2007-06-27

I am delighted that this film has been released on DVD, because like many of the other reviewers I was unaware of this film's existence when it was first released. This is certainly a highlight performance (both as actor and producer) in Mr. D'Onofrio's career, and Renee Zellweger's performance is as natural as the Texas sunsets and sunrises depicted here.

The subject matter itself is of inherent interest, and could be considered strange at first glance. Robert E. Howard? He of Conan the Barbarian? Cross Plains, Texas? I certainly knew nothing about Howard's life, despite the fact that I collected the Marvel Comics of Conan back in the '70's and '80's.

But this is a deeply moving and dignified film, with a wonderful sense of place and time. The small town Texas depicted here is portrayed and acted as lovingly and gently as the breeze on a Central Texas front porch. Mr. Ireland's direction is more than up to the task, and the movie's cumulative effect on the viewer is one of complete emotional involvement and investment.

Poetic and lovely, honest and true, there are few American films of the last 25 years that can match "The Whole Wide World."

One shortcoming (and it is an unfortunate and common one): where are the Black and Mexican people? Texas had and continues to have plenty. Howard's and Lovecraft's racism are well known and unfortunate matters of record; the filmmakers should have been more mindful of this fact.

Robert E, Howard Writer.......2007-01-04

Having read several of Howard's Conan books I was interested in learning something about the man. He was a brilliant story teller, but had a troubled mind. The relationship with his mother was way beyond reason. He knew she was going to die and commited suicide rather than live without her. A tragic end for a gifted artist.

Beautiful movie with an amazing Vincent D'Onofrio.......2006-12-25

I love this movie and it's very sad that "The Whole Wide World" is only available on DVD in the USA.
Let me say it is Vincent D'Onofrio's best work. He is amazing, fantastic and heartbreaking as writer Robert E. Howard. You see that Vincent really loves what he is doing. He is one of the finest actors ever.
As a low budget "The Whole Wide World" is wonderful filmed. Also a great work from director Dan Ireland.
Vincent D'Onofrio's sister Elizabeth is seeing as the waitress in this movie.
I love Vincent D'Onofrio's and director's Dan Ireland commentary. Great bonus!!!!
Unfortunately there are no English and only French subtitles.
After watching this movie read the books "One Who Walked Alone" by Novalyne Price Ellis and "Blood & Thunder" by Mark Finn!

A chick flick that macho guys tolerate VERY well.......2006-10-23

Funny that someone would produce a "chick flick" based on the relationship of Novalyne Price to author Robert E. Howard, creator of the sci-fi/fantasy character Conan. No doubt someone in Hollywood thought the irony of filming a romantic character study of the man who wrote the classic male-oriented action-thriller stories of the 1930s would be a good way to attract an unlikely mix of female romance fans and fans of the Conan books and comics.

Well the ploy worked, as I got my husband (severely allergic to chick flicks) to sit down and watch this one with me. "You probably won't like this," I said, "but it does show two creative people, one of them is the guy [Robert E. Howard] who wrote the Conan books."

Vincent D'Onofrio plays Robert E. Howard, a man who simultaneously looks sympathetic and psychopathic (his portrayal of Private Pyle in "Full Metal Jacket" is one of film history's creepiest moments). That he actually resembles Howard as a bonus.

Timeless beauty Rene Zellweger plays the intelligent Price, a local Texas school teacher who becomes romantically interested in Howard, a recluse that types his stories with extreme intensity in the privacy of his home while taking care of an ailing
mother.

My favorite scene is the one where where Renee's character is demonstrating how much she appreciates language in its ability to describe the scenery around them. Robert E. Howard's response boils down to, "That's great, but what the hell happens?" and he begins imagining an exciting adolescent heroic fantasy intruding into her peaceful meadow. The scene almost makes you feel guilty for realizing that there are real reasons why Conan and other pulp fiction characters endure and outsell all but the very best of the more respectable stuff. The film, as my brother (another Howard fan, who named his dog after Conan) notes, also didn't shy away from the fact that most of the best pulp work was based on insecure power trips written by and for arrested adolescents with real issues.

Here is the difficulty Howard fans, such as my husband, who has written reams of what he has written, will have with the film. The story is told from his girlfriend Novalyn's perspective so a very important aspect of Howard's life, the specifics and depth of his stories, is largely skimmed over. The film sums up Howard's work by showing Price in a witty scene comparing her breast size with the bosoms of Howard's characters, and by showing the shock of people as he describes or acts out his work in public. There is some attempt at showing his desire to create the deeper more assertive female character Valeria in "Red Nails" but it is only a passing mention in conversation.

Howard is depicted as resting on the edge of insanity at times, which is believable considering his tragic end. He doesn't just write, he becomes his characters.

Price, an aspiring writer herself, hopes to learn from Howard but is put off by his erratic behavior and a more romantic interest in him that wishes he'd write nicer stories with more pleasant sympathetic characters. This void between them prevents the viewers ... or should I say Howard fans from knowing which stories he was working on at what time in the plot.

"The Devil in Iron" is the only one mentioned by name and others are hinted at including a boxing story, "Queen of the Black Coast," and his last masterpiece "Red Nails," which many fans regard as his finest story (or yarn as Robert calls them in the film). As my husband has read all of his books and many different comic adaptations he was able to pick out some of the works from his ramblings behind the typewriter, but his work is treated as a distracting sideshow by the film, in spite of the Price character's attempts to be non-judgmental and open-minded about his topics. The real story of the film is a battle between Price and Howard's mother for his attention.

This may be an accurate dramatization of Price's feelings but to a Howard fan its a little bit like treating Michaelangelo's David or the Sistine Chapel as incidental in the story of his life.

A talented artist will live their work, become their characters, the events will be in their heads almost as if it is reality. The work is hardly incidental, it is their life. The film dramatizes this but omits the actual stories.

To sum it up, "The Whole Wide World" is an engaging romance that will keep the attention of both men and women watching at home, but in the end may disappoint Howard fans (but not too much). My husband has stacked five of his Conan paperbacks by my desk for me to read, all as a result of making him watch this DVD with me.

By the way, if you are wondering about the title, it's based on Howard shouting to Novalyn that he wants to be the best writer "in the whole wide world."

Sweet, Sad Love Story.......2006-10-21

Other Amazon reviewers have done a great job of laying out the plot and the best features of "The Whole Wide World", so I just want to add my two cents worth. I really love this movie. It is such a touching story of two people who were in love but not able to be together. Vincent D'Onofrio breaks my heart every time I watch him in this movie. His character wants so badly to connect with Novalyn but he just can't. I cry every time!

I can't imagine that anyone would be disappointed after watching this film. It is beautifully written and filmed, and the sweetness and sadness really stays with you. Oh, and the front yard kiss between Robert and Novalyn - best screen kiss ever! I highly recommend "The Whole Wide World".

Average customer rating:

Whole Wide World
Starring: Whole Wide World
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Album Description

This fantastic and beautiful film recounts the story of Navalyne Price, a schoolteacher in the 1930's, who meets and eventually falls in love the the eccentric writer, Robert Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Based upon Prices journals, Vincent D'Onofrio and Renee Zellweger bring amazing performances to the screen. Subtitled in English and includes the following special features - widescreen anamorphic format, English Dilby digital 2.0, theatrical trailer, trailer gallery, talent profiles & photo gallery. 1997.

The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World

Average customer rating:

it needs to be on a dvd ...

The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World
Starring: Tom Adams , Karel Stepanek , Peter Bull , John Arnatt , and Francis De Wolff
Director: Lindsay Shonteff
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005JPJM

Customer Reviews:

it needs to be on a dvd ..........2007-06-02

... even if all it confirms is my faulty memory and rose-coloured glasses and so forth. i saw this film on our ancient b&w teevee. a gritty spy flick. not as realistic as a le carre adaptation, perhaps. also not as twee as a roger moore bond film.

it gets three stars as i'm so unsure about my memories. it may actually be a really bad film, but i remember being really cool ...

Average customer rating:

1 hour and 46 minutes at last!
116 minutes at last

Whole Wide World
Starring: Whole Wide World
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

1 hour and 46 minutes at last!.......2005-02-06

Just a revision to my previous review. In my excitement of finally seeing the full length version of this film again I engaged in some very bad math. There has been so much discussion about the various editions of the Whole Wide World and the conflicting lengths I figured I better not add more fuel to the fire. Thank you Alliance/Atlantis for releasing the 106 minute version of this film. good print quality, surround sound and a 2.35:1 presentation. no extras, not even a trailer, but who cares? This film also does more for the character of Conan that anything to come out of a major studio. Buy it today and start enjoying the full length theatrical cut of the Whole Wide World.

116 minutes at last.......2005-02-04

I'll keep this short. Thank you Alliance/Atlantis for releasing the film I saw in the theatre, all 116 minutes of it. Very good print quality, excellent sound, and widescreen (2.35:1). No special features but who cares? The entire film at long last! Buy it today.

Average customer rating:

The Whole Wide World

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

The Velocity of Gary
Happy Accidents
Steal This Movie!

ASIN: B0007LYT7C

Product Description

Cast/Crew Bios, Theatrical Trailer, Scene Selection, Interactive Menus Driven by the electrifying performances of Vincent D'Onofrio (Men In Black) and Renee Zellweger (Jerry Maguire), THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD is the touching true story of the star-crossed love between writer Robert Howard and schoolteacher Novalyne Price.The creator of Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja, Howard was a small town writer with an insatiable appetite for larger-than-life heroism and fantasy. Shunned by the prudish locals, he was befriended by a feisty young teacher who offered him an unforgettable chance at love.

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