Themes: Political Corruption, On the Campaign Trail, Private Eyes
Main Cast: Danny Huston, Maria Bello, Billy Zane, Chris Cooper, Richard Dreyfuss, Daryl Hannah, Kris Kristofferson, Mary Kay Place, Miguel Ferrer, Thora Birch
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 133 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Celebrated writer and director John Sayles turns his eye to politics in America in this drama. The son of respected Colorado politician Senator Jud Pilager (Michael Murphy), Dicky Pilager (Chris Cooper) is a charming but half-bright man with a bad habit of mangling the English language and a decided lack of political correctness. Dicky is also in the midst of a hard-fought campaign to become governor of Colorado. Dicky's campaign manager, Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss), is a ruthless sort who will leave no stone unturned to see that his candidate wins, so when Dicky snags a dead body while fishing during the shooting of a campaign commercial, Raven is determined to find out if his man has been set up. Raven hires Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston), a former journalist turned private investigator, to find out who the dead man is and if he might be connected to Pilager's enemies. But the deeper O'Brien digs into the matter, the more he finds out about the candidate and his family -- and very little of it is flattering. John Sayles assembled a typically impressive cast for Silver City, with the supporting cast highlighted by Tim Roth, Kris Kristofferson, Maria Bello, Thora Birch, Daryl Hannah, Billy Zane, and Mary Kay Place. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Silver City could be considered John Sayles' cross between All the President's Men and Chinatown. His hero is a rumpled journalist who digs deeper and deeper into a murder investigation and reveals a history that makes clear how and why a variety of political and personal forces are driving the dim-witted but television-friendly Richard "Dickie" Pilager (Chris Cooper doing modest, brilliant work) toward the Colorado governor's mansion. Sayles has envisioned a complex web of conspiracy and greed, and he reveals these truths through a series of entertaining conversations that also allow each of the actors to develop three-dimensional characters. The first-rate cast offers a never-ending supply of quality performances. Richard Dreyfuss plays a political fixer/tactician with the understanding that power needs only to threaten -- not yell; Billy Zane embodies every nuance of a man impressed with his own power; Kris Kristofferson (no director has ever used him better than Sayles has) delivers the best monologue in a dialogue-heavy film; and Sal Lopez just about walks off with the movie as a chef intrigued by private-detective work. The actual story is complicated, but Sayles tells the story one step at a time, keeping the viewer right with the protagonist at every point. Silver City does not offer anger or passion, but it is nearly bursting with quality performances and offers a wise if resigned look at how politics work in the age of W. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Michael Murphy - Sen. Jud Pilager; David Clennon - Mort Seymour; Ralph Waite - Casey Lyle; Sal Lopez - Tony Guerra; James Gammon - Joe Skaggs; Tim Roth - Mitch Paine; Luis Saguar - Vince Esparza; Alma Delfina - Lupe Montoya; Aaron Vieyra - Frito Lopez; Hugo Carbajal - Rafi Quinones; Cheech Marin
Credit
Suzanne Ceresco - Associate Producer, Ros Hubbard - Casting, John Hubbard - Casting, Lansing Parker - Co-producer, Shay Cunliffe - Costume Designer, John Powditch - First Assistant Director, John Sayles - Director, John Sayles - Editor, Mason K. Daring - Composer (Music Score), Toby Corbett - Production Designer, Chris Jones - Production Designer, Haskell Wexler - Cinematographer, Maggie Renzi - Producer, Judy Karp - Sound/Sound Designer, John Sayles - Screenwriter, Alice Baker - Set Decorator
In the film, Richard "Dicky" Pilager is running for Governor of Colorado. One day, while filming a campaign ad that shows him fishing, Dicky Pilager hooks a corpse on location. Chuck Raven, Pilager's Campaign Manager, hires Danny O'Brien, a former journalist who works as a private investigator, to examine the case. Raven urges O'Brien to find potential links between the body and Pilager's political enemies.
O'Brien's job is to essentially intimidate Pilager's opponents, and he has numerous revealing conversations with various people. He learns that business mogul Wes Benteen is using Pilager to promote his own agenda. The interviews also reveal further corruption where politicians, land developers, and mining companies have come to an agreement, whereby environmental issues have been completely ignored. He also learns about illegal migrant workers, as well as a potentially damaging affair.
Cast
Danny O'Brien. Played by Danny Huston. Danny works as a private investigator. He used to work for the Mountain Monitor newspaper as a journalist before getting fired for reporting a false story. Now working for Chuck Raven, he is to intimidate anyone who might be trying to sabotage the Pilager campaign.
Richard "Dicky" Pilager. Played by Chris Cooper. Dicky Pilager is the son of influential Senator Judson Pilager. After failng to succeed in the mining business, he decides to run for Governor of Colorado. Most of his campaign is funded by family friend Wes Benteen.
Chuck Raven. Played by Richard Dreyfuss. Raven is Campaign Manager of Pilager for Governor. A life-long family friend, he is in charge of protecting the family name. He hires Danny O'Brien in a strategem to ensure the campaign won't be tainted by political scandal.
Wes Benteen. Played by Kris Kristofferson. The billionaire mogul behind it all. His businesses benefit the Pilager family in return for political favors. His companies produce meat, agricultural products, and provide medical services. He also owns a major football team, the Prospectors. He finances half the campaign in order to secure land development rights.
Nora Allardyce. Played by Maria Bello. She is a reporter at the Mountain Monitor and is Danny O'Brien's ex.
Mitch Paine. Played by Tim Roth. He is a friend of Danny O'Brien's, and a former reporter at the Mountain Monitor who was fired for the same reason as O'Brien. He runs an underground news website and is a source of information.
Senator Judson Pilager. Played by Michael Murphy. A powerful U.S. senator from Colorado and Dicky Pilager's father. He constantly bemoans his son's ineptness.
Madeline "Maddy" Pilager. Played by Darryl Hannah. Free spirited, black sheep daughter of the Pilager family. One of the people Danny is to "warn".
Cliff Castleton. Played by Miguel Ferrer. Ultra right-wing radio commentator who has been at odds with Chuck Raven and the Pilagers since the 70's. He's also one of the people Danny is to "warn".
Casey Lyle. Played by Ralph Waite. A former mining safety inspector who was falsely caught up in a mining accident scandal. He is also "warned" by Danny.
Sheriff Joe Skaggs. Played by James Gammon. Investigates the dead body found in the lake. He is the brother of the man Danny was investigating in the story that got him fired.
Chandler Tyson. Played by Billy Zane. A land developer and lobbyist in Wes Benteen's and the Pilagers' pocket. Dating Nora Allardyce.
Karen Cross. Played by Thora Birch. Mitch's assistant at the website. Helps provide information to Danny.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film but said it likely wouldn't change any votes in the 2004 election. He wrote, "America is familiar with the way [George W. Bush] talks, and about half of us are comfortable with it. That's why Silver City may not change any votes. There is nothing in the movie's portrait of Pilager/Bush that has not already been absorbed and discounted by the electorate."[2]
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "wildly uneven" with "dull" stretches. "But the movie comes alive when Cooper is in it, especially his scenes with Richard Dreyfuss as Dickie's savvy campaign manager," Stein wrote.[5]
Caryn James of The New York Times called the film's script and direction "exhilarating", characterizing the film as "a Bush-bashing work that is more than Bush-bashing" which "goes beyond election-year satire to reach broader themes of corporate power, campaign double talk and journalistic responsibility."[4] James notes it is also a "detective story with a half-dozen major characters and a twisty Chinatown plot that begins when the environmentally hostile Dickie is filming an environmentally friendly campaign ad and fishes a corpse out of a river."[4]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 46% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 124 reviews.[6]
Distribution
Silver City had a limited release in the United States, where it was marketed as a comedy about an "intellectually challenged, poorly spoken politician."[3] Sayles commented on that marketing approach in an entertainment interview for CNN:
“
You basically give it to the company, and they advertise it the way that gets the most people in the theater. [When it plays in] other countries, [they] may emphasize the Chinatown aspects (aspects also noted in a New York Times article.[4] The problem with all my movies, because they're complicated, is they don't boil down to two sentences, so you emphasize this part or that part of it.[3]
^ ab Stein, Ruthe. September 17, 2004. Stein, Ruthe. San Francisco Chronicle, "My, this candidate sure sounds familiar." Last accessed January 20, 2007.
