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.