Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The setting for this film is absolutely perfect. Gorgeous landscapes, and music (Patsy Cline, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, and so much more) perfect for the period. Natalie Cooper wrote a great script that feels just right.Patricia Charbonneau is just perfect as Cay, a free spirit that just wants to fly. She lights up the room every time she enters. She was the perfect tonic for the repressive Helen Shaver's ailment.What I really liked was that this was a realistic love story. It wasn't about sex, but about two people finding out what they really want. It didn't end in a neat package, but with promise. It mirrored life in that respect; it just featured two women, that's all.Audra Lindley was great as Cay's stepmother, and added more realism to the story. Andra Akers was really cool as her friend. Jeffrey Tambor was also featured in a bit part.I just wish that I had six weeks to spend in the desert. It was so beautiful.

A sensitive drama based on a Jane Rule novel. Professor Vivian Bell(Helen Shaver)travels from New York to Reno, Nevada to get a divorce. It is 1959 and strong independent thinking women are an oddity. Frances Parker(Audra Lindley)puts Vivian up at a guest ranch, so she can meet her residency requirement for her divorce. The quiet reserved professor meets and falls in love with a young, openly lesbian woman, Cay(Patricia Charbonneau), ten years her junior.Character development is effortless and the explicit love scenes are tender, yet hot. There is a very good soundtrack that is marred by quick and frequent fade-outs. Great music from: Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent, Webb Pierce, Johnnie Ray and Elvis Presley.Rounding out the cast are Andra Akers, Alex McArthur, Gwen Welles and Dean Butler. Profanity and the lesbian love scenes garner an R rating. DESERT HEARTS makes Charbonneau a star.

This is awesome. Quite agree. I've heard and read so much about this film over the years,but never have a chance to watch the film.Lesbians always consider that this movie is the most classic one. Just look at cay's expression and motion,you would soon get that how much she loves this woman. If it needs,she would lay down her life for Vivian. Quite moving~.~ To tell the truth,this is the best lesbian-themed movie that I've ever seen.Though I've seen BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE~THE L WORD~BOUND~D.B.E.S......so forth,no one could make me lose in thought for such a long time.If the lesbian love is just as the movie pictured,what's so wrong to be a lesbian anyhow?

Before Ellen, kd lang, and Chastity Bono came out, there was this Lesbian genre classic, and classily done, I might add. The storyline was unique to movies at the time it was filmed, but the story is not. Anyone who has been in love with a supposed "straight" person, knows how real this movie can seem. The flirtation, the backing away, the come-hither looks, and finally the conquest all will bring back good (and painful) memories. In my opinion, the lesbian love scene between the two female leads is still the best yet on film - it sizzles without being too graphic. I'm giving it only an 8 because the acting is a little stilted at times (mostly from the star Patricia Charbonneau and her former on-screen love interest Dean Butler). If you can overlook that, and see the movie for what it was (lesbian/gay history) and what it is today (a great love story), you will enjoy it. The clothes, music, sets, (and the hair-dos!) are great and correct for the period. Sit back, enjoy, and make sure your girlfriend is watching with you!