Vincent D'Onofrio, in a meatier role than he is accustomed to, sketches a vivid portrait of the creator of Conan the Barbarian, Robert E. Howard, a strapping, shambling, small-town Texas misfit, pounding out half-a-cent-per-word pulp stories in mid-Depression, and nursing a serious mother complex. His relationship with a sympathetic schoolmarm (Renee Zellweger) starts off in credible getting-to-know-one-another dialogues, but the movie settles too much into one, long, two-person conversation, with thumb-twiddling interruptions. Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell; directed by Dan Ireland. (1996) — Duncan Shepherd
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