The Whole Wide World | Eastern North Carolina Now

    
The Story of the Best Pulp Fiction Writer in "The Whole Wide World" was a Whale of a Tale

    Pulp Fiction Writer Robert Ervin Howard, who in life was successful in the most difficult of economic times and in death celebrated for his effusive talent of "spinning" the most powerful of "yarns," is the subject of the biographical film "The Whole Wide World." This film was adapted from the memoirs of Howard's contemporary Novalyne Price Ellis entitled "One Who Walks Alone." The film, like Mrs. Ellis' memoirs, chronicles her personal vision of Howard's emerging pulp fiction career as he crafted fantastic tales while living in his father's home, along one of the dusty streets of Cross Plains, Texas during the early days of the "Great Depression."

    "Bob" Howard, portrayed by the versatile Vincent D'Onofrio, was a big, socially withdrawn man, and oddly, with a verbose nature, who was emotionally dependent upon his mother to an extreme. He was a man of conflicted contradictions, who lived on the emotional edge to the point of severe bouts of manic depression. He was passionate about three elements of his life: his unparalleled imagination, his lyrical prose and his work, and his devoted mother. Novalyne Price, played by a very young Renee Zellwegger, became a part of Howard's life when they were introduced by a mutual friend, and when Miss Price moved from the country to Cross Plains to teach English at the local elementary school.

    Miss Price, who fancied herself a novice writer, was somewhat forward in the pursuit of her friendship with Mr. Howard, and if she didn't, there never would have been any relationship, with his reticent ways as they were. Bob had lived his life under the spell of his doting mother, and would return the favor once she became chronically sick with tuberculosis. Up until his relationship with Novalyne and his mother's illness, Bob's life had mostly consisted of some amateur boxing, odd jobs and then first writing for pleasure and his personal avocation, and later, prolifically writing all day and well into the night, to support himself and to aid in the support of his family during the "Great Depression." The reality is that many of the town folks of Cross Plains never saw him at a more traditional profession and couldn't understand his avocation or his "lurid stories." They considered him to be crazed in the way he worked out his "yarns" by yelling his prose, from his open windowed spare bedroom, as he banged manically at his coal black Royal typewriter. Regrettably, they may have heaped even more pressure on this young man - a young man, in his mid twenties, who had never had the time for the luxury of a steady girl. There in lies the conflict for the audience of this finely crafted period film, as most of us wish that this young man and this young woman would find some peace and happiness as they work out their young lives, under such pressure, in those desperate times.

    First time director Dan Ireland and screenplay writer Michael Scott Myers cobbled together a fabulous story in celluloid, that offered much illumination as to who was Robert E. Howard - who created, among many other characters, the "Conan" series. It was a touching account of his and Novalyne's lives in this dynamic period, with all of the actors, in this character driven narrative, outstanding as they transported the audience to a state of belief. Ann Wedgeworth, as Bob Howard's mother, and Harve Presnell, as his father, well complemented the sterling performances by D'Onofrio and Zellwegger.

    Maybe it was Robert Howard's manic depression, or his nature of finding it difficult to commit to more that one woman (his mother, the other woman) at a time, that created the friction in the long and stormy relationship between he and Novalyn Price. On one of their many memorable rides out in the Central Texas countryside, Bob and Novalyne debated her intended devotion to becoming a better educated teacher to mold young minds. Upon losing the heartfelt argument, Bob dejectedly expressed to Novalyne, "You have a great cause. To make life worth living, a man or a woman must have a great love or a great cause. I have neither."

    Pulp Fiction Writer Robert Ervin Howard suffered for his family, for his relationship to humanity, for the economic malaise of his times, from his undiagnosed manic depressive moments and for his art. His story is a story of all artists, who suffered in life and for their art they are remembered. We patrons of their work are beneficiaries of their toils and this film, "The Whole Wide World," is a reminder of they who suffer and we who benefit. It is fine little film and a work of art, and well worthy of 3 3/4 stars. Its 111 minutes of runtime was time well spent. Hallelujah!

    Released on DVD 1996. Rated PG.

    This article provided courtesy of our sister site: Better Angels Now


Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Music in the Streets: One Man's Observation Forgotten Classics, Movie Reviews, The Arts Being There

HbAD0

 
Back to Top