I think this is the best underrated lesbian film I've ever came across and it's still great for over 30 years like! Helen Shaver had such a beautiful voice and by god, she is so stunning! The same for Patricia Charbonneau, she really was sexy and provide such a great role as Cay Rivvers! You really wouldn't know she was pregnant like she hid the bump pretty well! She probably got married pretty young by the looks of her!In the film, I even loved Audra Lindley as Frances Parker who let Vivian stay at her place while she was going through the divorce. I honestly wish they didn't make her character into such a control freak because she doesn't look like the person who would shout at your face!This movie should really have deserved more awards because really, this movie has great tastes in music and of course, 80's love ;)

It's 1959 Reno, Nevada. Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) is an English Lit professor at Columbia in NYC. She comes to stay at a ranch owned by Frances Parker to establish residency in Nevada for a quickie divorce. She's been married to another professor for 12 years in a professional marriage. She's willing to give him everything. Cay Rivvers (Patricia Charbonneau) is a wild child who lives at the ranch as Frances' surrogate daughter. She's relatively open as a lesbian considering the times but she still gets hit on by men. She finds herself falling for the newly arrived older woman.It's not necessarily the most dramatic or the most well made lesbian movie. The lack of drama is a triumph in itself. This time, lesbianism doesn't end in tragic deaths or finding a man or insanity. It also has an amazing lesbian love scene and not just for its eroticism. These characters are compelling and shockingly normal played by two terrific actresses. Their relationship doesn't destroy them but actually leaves them fulfilled.

While awaiting her divorce on a dude ranch outside Reno, a stiff and humorless New York City professor learns to appreciate life from the usual assortment of Silver State oddballs, finally letting her hair down for a young, uninhibited employee of one of the local casinos. It might have been just another routine romantic comedy but for the fact that the two lovers are both women, and the novelty value alone is enough to lift the film out of the ordinary. There's enough charm and offhand humor to match any mainstream, hetero romance, but make no mistake: this movie doesn't regard its lesbianism lightly, and there's an explicit bedroom interlude to prove it. The scene stops the film dead in its tracks, but director Donna Deitch (making her feature debut) has to be commended for approaching the subject with such candor and optimism (some of it a bit forced, to be sure), leaning only slightly on the awkward self-awareness usually found in a Hollywood coming-out story.

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.