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Chris Cooper,
Danny Huston,
Richard Dreyfuss,
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John Sayles
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: Columbia TriStar
: Drama, Political Satire, Political Thriller
: 129 min.
: English
: English
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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
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| Sayles' America (and pretty close to definitive)
by talltale
January 22, 2005 - 4:21 PM PST
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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SILVER CITY is right up there with John Sayles' best films. Do not pay one iota of attention to critics who dismissed this movie out-of-hand. It has all the hallmarks of Grade-A Sayles: plenty of irony, humor, whip-sharp dialog, and this auteur's ability to create varied, interesting, believable characters and fill their mouths (and the movie) with pointed speeches that enlarge our understanding of how the US really works. "Silver City" tackles politics, campaigning, the environment, immigration, lobbyists, the media and more--whipping it together nearly seamlessly.
The writer/director's biggest problem comes about 2/3 of the way into things, as the movie takes on the quality of a mystery/thriller, and Sayles, never a major stylist (to say the least), is just not up to this challenge. The "romance" between the characters played by Danny Huston and Maria Bello doesn't quite jell, either, but this filmmaker has never provided much in the way of love and romance.
Not to worry: the film collects itself nicely and saunters on toward a great ending. In fact, the beginning and ending are simply terrific set pieces, beautifully mirroring (and expanding on) one another. The film as a whole also mirrors our country today about as well as anyone has captured it. Among the rest of the fine cast, Richard Dreyfuss and Darryl Hannah stand out--maybe due to the size of their roles--while the great Chris Cooper does a Bush "turn" to beat just about everything. Sayles fans, and those who don't yet know his work, should have a field day with this opus from a man who is clearly becoming one "Dickens" of a good moviemaker. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.37)
51 Votes
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