| Silver City | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Sayles |
| Screenplay by | John Sayles |
| Produced by | Maggie Renzi |
| Starring | Maria Bello Thora Birch David Clennon Chris Cooper Alma Delfina Richard Dreyfuss Miguel Ferrer James Gammon Daryl Hannah Danny Huston Kris Kristofferson Sal Lopez Michael Murphy Mary Kay Place Luis Saguar Tim Roth Ralph Waite Billy Zane |
| Cinematography | Haskell Wexler |
| Edited by | John Sayles |
| Music by | Mason Daring |
Production company | Anarchist's Convention Films |
| Distributed by | Newmarket Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 128 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.3 million |
Silver City is a 2004 Americanpoliticalsatirecomedy-drama film written and directed byJohn Sayles.Chris Cooper portrays an ineptRepublicangubernatorial candidate, a character that was noted for similarities toU.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[1] The film's largeensemble cast includes, among others,Richard Dreyfuss,Danny Huston,Michael Murphy,Maria Bello,Kris Kristofferson,Mary Kay Place,Thora Birch,Tim Roth,Billy Zane andDaryl Hannah.
The film is a "murder mystery [linked] to a political satire";[2] according to Sayles; it is "about electoral politics, but also about the press."[3]
Richard "Dicky" Pilager, the dim-witted scion of a powerfulpolitical dynasty, is running forGovernor of Colorado. One day, while filming a campaign ad that shows him fishing at Arapahoe Lake, Pilager hooks a corpse on location. Chuck Raven, Pilager's campaign manager, hires Danny O'Brien, a former journalist who works as aprivate 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 essentially to intimidate Pilager's opponents, and he has numerous revealing conversations with various people. He learns that businessmogul Wes Benteen is using Pilager to promote his own agenda. The interviews also reveal further corruption: politicians, land developers, and mining companies are conspiring to ignore certain environmental issues. O'Brien also learns about illegal migrant workers, as well as a potentially damaging love affair.
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 forCNN:
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 theChinatown aspects. 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]
The film played in 162 theaters at its widest and earned US$1.4 million at thebox office in Canada and the United States.[4] It also earned around $300,000 from both Ireland and the United Kingdom.[4]
Silver City had its world premiere at theCannes Film Market during theCannes Film Festival. Critics noted the similarities between the fictitious Dicky Pilager and the realGeorge W. Bush,[1][2][3][5] with some also seeing parallels between the fictitious campaign manager and the realKarl Rove.[1][2]
Roger Ebert praised the film, but said it likely wouldn't change any votes in the2004 election: "America is familiar with the way [George W. Bush] talks, and about half of us are comfortable with it. That's whySilver 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 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."[5]
Caryn James called the film's script and direction "exhilarating", characterizing the film as "aBush-bashing work that is more than Bush-bashing" which "goes beyond election-year satire to reach broader themes of corporate power, campaigndouble talk and journalistic responsibility." She also called the film a "detective story with a half-dozen major characters and a twistyChinatown plot that begins when the environmentally hostile Dickie is filming an environmentally friendly campaign ad and fishes a corpse out of a river."[6]
The review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes reported that 48% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 128 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Heavy-handed and often dull."[7]
