Desert Blue

"Once You Get There, You'll Never Want To Leave"

1999 1h 30m EN

😐

5.7

MID

🥫

37%

ROTTEN

⭐

6.1

IMDB

★5.7TMDB · 43🥫37%Rotten Tomatoes★6.1IMDB · 2,713

ComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An academic obsessed with roadside attractions and his tv-star daughter stop at a small desert town to see the world's largest ice cream cone, where, because of an accident that spilled an unknown substance all over the highway, they are forced to spend a few days with the towns eccentric residents.

“Once You Get There, You'll Never Want To Leave”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Kate Hudson
Skye Davidson
Brendan Sexton III
Blue Baxter
John Heard
Prof. Lance Davidson
Christina Ricci
Ely Jackson
Casey Affleck
Pete Kepler
Sara Gilbert
Sandy
Ethan Suplee
Cale
Peter Sarsgaard
Billy Baxter

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Morgan J. Freeman
Writers: Morgan J. Freeman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 5% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

27 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Morgan J. Freeman, shot by Enrique Chediak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Vytas Nagisetty. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sabine Hoffman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kate Hudson and Brendan Sexton III and John Heard carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Morgan J. Freeman directs. Enrique Chediak behind the camera. Vytas Nagisetty scores. Sabine Hoffman cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Earned back only 5% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
427 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Directed by Morgan J. Freeman, shot by Enrique Chediak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Vytas Nagisetty. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Sabine Hoffman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Kate Hudson and Brendan Sexton III and John Heard carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Once You Get There, You'll Never Want To Leave".
10IMDB entry: tt0126261 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 43 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 12 themes, including "fire", "quarantine", "bomb", "explosive".

The technical file

Cinematography: Enrique Chediak
Original score: Vytas Nagisetty
Editing: Sabine Hoffman
Production design: David Doernberg
Costume design: Trish Summerville
Makeup / hair: Maryann Marchetti
Sound: Margaret Crimmins
Stunt coordinator: Johnny Gray
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $100,590
Return: 5% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Desert Blue (1999)
Rotten Tomatoes: 37% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 6.1/10 · 2,713 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 nomination total

Also by

Morgan J. Freeman

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2025-09-07
★ 6/10
Long stop at a desolate settlement in the Southwest and the peculiar people thereof A TV actress and her professor father (Kate Hudson and John Heard) stop at a dying mining town in the desert to see a roadside attraction and inadvertently become stuck there for a few days. The eccentric citizens include a young man preoccupied with his late father’s dream (Brendan Sexton III), a girl obsessed with pipe bombs (Christina Ricci), an ATV racer (Casey Affleck) and a woman who runs a diner (Lucinda Jenney). “Desert Blue” (1998) is a quirky indie drama influenced by TV’s Northern Exposure. It’s comparable to Australia’s "Rikky and Pete" from ten years prior and a little “Gas Food Lodging,” as well as later movies like "3 Nights in the Desert” and a bit o’ “Don’t Come Knocking.” There’s an air of emptiness and the story is kind of boring, throwing in a curious subplot about an ominous cola factory. Still, the flick has its points of interest, like finding inspiration in the least likely places. You’ll see some snow here and there, which, by happenstance, was the most snow the isolated town had seen in three decades during shooting. It runs 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was shot in Goldfield in southwest Nevada with the Los Angeles Aqueduct scenes done in Jawbone Canyon, which is almost a 4-hour drive southwest of Goldfield and a 2-hour drive north of Los Angeles. GRADE: B-/C+

Production companies