Desert Bloom

PG

Released Jan 22, 1986

1 hr. 46 min.

Drama

List

69%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

In post-World War II Las Vegas, the Chismore family teeters on the brink of collapse, headed by alcoholic stepfather Jack (Jon Voight) and his wife, Lily (JoBeth Williams). Teen daughter Rose (Annabeth Gish), powerless to change the horrific cycle of abuse in the household, takes comfort in a budding romance with local boy Robin (Jay Underwood). Rose's family life undergoes a significant transformation, however, when her somewhat quirky Aunt Starr (Ellen Barkin) arrives.

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Audience Member

Good movie wish I had the radio

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A decent coming of age period melodrama set in the 1950's that never really quite lifts itself from the made-for-tv feel. There are plenty of interesting ideas tied together here, but I'm convinced if this didn't have such great performances this is the type of script that would be fit for Lifetime. I think the problem is that not everything feels like it's tightly connected even though it avoids plenty of terrible cliches that could have filled the ending. Rose tells us the story of what it was like at the age of 13 when the A-bomb was about to be tested near Las Vegas, where she was living at the time. Her stepfather, Jack, has PTSD from WWII. He's constantly listening in to his radio that can pick up messages from the military. As the film progresses, he gets worse and worse. I liked how it opened up by not telling us what their history was. We get to figure out what it was like as the film progresses. The problem is that I don't understand why Jack appears to get worse and worse. Is he feeling the pressure again because they are re-introducing the A-bomb? The scene at the dinner table when he repeats the explanation on how an atomic bomb works could support this theory, but I don't feel like it was explored enough. The atomic bomb's a big part of the film and Jack's life, so it's there enough, but not spoken of in a way that connects things very well. None of this is the fault of Jon Voight. This is a brilliant performance. If there's anything memorable here it's the scenes where he breaks down. Just the look in his eyes tells us how he feels. Not many actors have this ability. One of them that can do it just as well is Anthony Hopkins. I found it creepy how Lily continues to call Jack "daddy". That's her husband. If my wife were to call me daddy I would probably get the biggest renob. Is their unhealthy relationship explored very much? Not really. We see the things he does to her, but it's all things that you'd expect from someone as distressed as Jack. He gives her the cold shoulder, yells at her, treats her like she doesn't know anything. Then there's Starr. She's Lily's sister who comes to stay with them during her divorce. Rose looks up to Starr. She's beautiful and confident, whereas Rose believes she's just a "beanstalk," as the kids at school call her. Unfortunately with the introduction of Starr we can guess that Jack's either going to rape her or have consensual sex with her. Her character never gets out of that idea for me. I felt like I was just waiting for her big scene, and of course it does come eventually. It's okay to have something like that set up so the audience knows what's going to come, but at least bring the character to life as well. I felt like they never seek out to explain her more than just that she's a frivolous woman who enjoys a man's touch. And Lily's character never feels too fleshed out either. She's just the battered wife who wants out of her relationship but can't because she doesn't want to abandon her husband. He can change and she's going to help him. It was a good idea to put the scene between Jack and Starr right before the big spelling bee. When Jack walks in and Rose sees him I thought that Rose was going to lose for sure. It made it that much more special for when she actually got it right. I also really liked the way the kids were wearing the dog tags and Rose explains they wore dog tags in case if anything happened to them their parents would know they were dead. It's a grim and sad idea to have that hanging around your neck all the time, especially when you're 13. No one wants to think of death, especially at that age. Then there's the character Robin whose father died in the war and he feels a close relation to Jack. He wants to help because he can't imagine what he went through. What he doesn't realize is what he's putting Rose through. I really wish they would have gone through the dad that helps out Rose more. It seems like he's just there to keep Jack in line, but he doesn't really get covered enough to have more of a purpose. Perhaps that explains this for me: the characters are all there for a single purpose and never really come to life except for Rose and Jack. Everyone meant a great deal to Rose at this time in her life so they should not feel so wooden. And like I said, I'm glad they didn't screw up the ending by having one of the characters die just because they don't know how to get out of the situation. Much drama has been built up and a death would have been a copout, like most of the time. Like I said, I'm not really sure how the A-bomb story ties in with Rose. Perhaps Eugene Corr just wanted to capture the era and show a girl during the time, but it seems like he's trying to use it as a metaphor since it ends on the mushroom cloud. And it's called Desert Bloom, which could symbolize the girl's coming of age mixed with the bloom of the atomic bomb. Whatever that was intended for was lost on me, as I'm sure it was on many people. Like I said, it's decent, but never really comes to life.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

(***): Thumbs Up Interesting and well-acted.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

This sensitive coming-of-age tale is framed by the narration of its grown-up protagonist, recalling her childhood in the 1950s, an era defined by the A-bomb and the culture it created.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Saw this by accident on AMC. Brilliant, harsh and honest look at the American psyche. Loved it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A nice little gem of a movie. Haven't seen in at least 10 years, but I recall it was a coming of age movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Eugene Corr

Director

Jon Voight

Jack Chismore

JoBeth Williams

Lily Chismore

Ellen Barkin

Aunt Starr

Annabeth Gish

Rose Chismore

Allen Garfield

Mr. Mosol

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Bill Cosford

Miami Herald

Forced as it sometimes seems, and inconsequential by turns, Desert Bloom is a handsome movie, and it's beautifully detailed.

Rated: 2.5/4

Aug 17, 2021

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Desert Bloom contains the material for a very good film and it certainly contains the performances, but it moves in too many directions and contains too many issues.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Paul Attanasio

Washington Post

Now, it's fine for a movie to be earnest, and Julio Gallo, for that matter, but it does make "Desert Bloom" rather a slog.

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Robin Holabird

Robin Holabird

A strong cast led by Jon Voight backs Gish in a story that pulls a great deal of its elements from its distinctive Nevada setting...

Aug 11, 2021

Full Review

Kathi Maio

Sojourner

I don't know whether it is this marketplace reality, or a general lack of human understanding, that made so beautiful a film as Desert Bloom into such an ultimately disappointing experience.

Aug 22, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

This sensitive coming-of-age tale is framed by the narration of its grown-up protagonist, recalling her childhood in the 1950s, an era defined by the A-Bomb and the culture it created.

Rated: B

Jun 12, 2006

Full Review

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Synopsis

In post-World War II Las Vegas, the Chismore family teeters on the brink of collapse, headed by alcoholic stepfather Jack (Jon Voight) and his wife, Lily (JoBeth Williams). Teen daughter Rose (Annabeth Gish), powerless to change the horrific cycle of abuse in the household, takes comfort in a budding romance with local boy Robin (Jay Underwood). Rose's family life undergoes a significant transformation, however, when her somewhat quirky Aunt Starr (Ellen Barkin) arrives.

Director: Eugene Corr
Executive Producer: Richard Fischoff
Screenwriter: Linda Remy
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: The Sundance Institute, Carson Productions, Delphi IV Productions, Columbia Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 22, 1986, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 24, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $92.8K