Voila! Finally, the Silver City
script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the movie by John Sayles. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly
transcribed using the screenplay and/or viewings of Silver City. I know, I know, I still need to get the cast names in there and I'll be eternally
tweaking it, so if you have any corrections, feel free to
drop me a line. You won't
hurt my feelings. Honest.
We are miners
Hard rock miners
To the shaft house
We must go
Pouryour bottles
On our shoulders
We are marching to the slow
On the line, boys
Freedom ofreligious worship
and expression.
Drillyour holes and stand in line
And his lack ofpolitical experience.
Soldiers ready-
His positions on crime,
immigration and gay marriage...
have earned him the endorsement ofseveral
Christian and family values organizations.
Can't you feel the rock dust
In your lungs
It'll cut down a miner
When he is stillyoung
Two years and the silicosis
Takes hold
Freedom from the cultural tyranny...
and the new-age demagogues.
- I do mean citizen.
- Yes, I feel like I'm dying
From mining for gold
What I'm talking about comes down to
that precious word "freedom. "
Richard Pilager cares
about Colorado.
I always turn to nature...
when I need to sort thi ngs out
i n my m i nd...
to make sense of the world.
But our environment is under siege-
Under siege?.
Under fire?. Under attack?.
It's not under anything, Dickie.
It's endangered.
I always turn to nature when-
Okay. Okay. All right.
Look. No, no!.
We'll buy ofthe -second spots...
and you'll put a hold
on the next .
All right.
No, I'm here!. I'm here!.
I'm shooting
the bucolic fishing thing...
and the press is gonna be here
in about an hour...
and we're gonna have to give them
a photo op and position quotes.
So have the helicopter ready
on my signal.
Ifthey get really pushy,
I'll whisk him away.
Can'tyou find something less garish?.
Look at this!
- It looks like a French tickler.
- It's supposed to attract the big ones.
We're trying to attract voters, okay?.
Not fish.
Folks. Let's set up for rehearsal.
Director guy, the trout
are gonna spit this thing out.
No, Dickie, we just wantyou to go
through the action, okay?.
Nice and smooth, so we can
get the camera movement down.
- We'll deal with the props later.
- Let me get out ofyourway.
Okay. Let's start in nice and tight
on the hands, move up to his face...
and then go around to the front.
Okay, here we go!
We're rehearsing!
Roll sound.
Action!
You know, I've always
turned back to nature...
to sort things out in my mind,
to make sense ofthe world...
but our environment-
Damn it.
Our environment is endangered.
I'm hung up on something here.
- Here, let me get that foryou.
- No, I can get it.
Think I hooked a Russian submarine!
Dang, it's a whopper,
whatever it is.
Oh, God.
Put that down.
Turn that off. Now!
Turn it off, now!
Donna, we're scrambling here.
- What is the backup location for this?.
- Wilson's Creek.
Donna, we're gonna change
location to Wilson's Creek.
Notify the press people
and get the chopper in here immediately.
Dickie, you're on the chopper. Go!
- Somebody's screwing with us, Chuck.
- I'll deal with it.
Find out who it is
and cut him offat the knees!
I'm on top ofit. Just go.
All right. People?.
We're gonna relocate,
and I wantyou all to follow Leslie...
to Wilson's Creek, okay?.
Hey.
Come here. Come here.
Come on.
Hold this. Hold it.
Thereyou go.
Leslie, I don't want
any ofthese people to leave...
before I debriefthem.
- Should I call the police?.
- No. I'll do that.
- Sir?.
- Yeah?.
What doyou want me to do with this?.
You don't reel it in,
and you don't let it get away.
Boy's been through the wringer.
You understand how much we appreciate
a low profile here, Sheriff?.
I've already spoken to Captain Fox
at the State Patrol.
You have, have you?.
You do yourjob-
and I am certain that
you're very good at it-
and I'm just doing mine.
Sheriff, I found something!
I don't think that's what
killed him, Davis! Keep looking.
Enthusiastic kid. Just hired him.
Doyou have any idea,
any guess as towhat this might be?.
Henry does all the guesswork
on the cold ones.
These people insist on floating
to the surface on my day off.
Henry.
Chuck Raven. We met at
the fund-raiser for Clark Hodges.
Right. You're Dickie-
We were just about to shoot
an environmental spot-
beautiful setting, beautiful day-
then this happens.
I'm surprised you caught anything
with this lure.
Kermit, my man!
What's shakin'?.
You might want to run the Dustbuster
over him whileyou're at it, Lupe.
Boss wants to seeyou.
Just filling out mytime sheet.
She told me to let her know
the minuteyou come in.
What'd I fuck up this time?.
Danny boy!
My favorite snoop.
Mort, how's
the real estate moving?.
Got a big one on the hook, Danny.
Just gotta land her.
Later, folks!
Mort the mogul. He's had a big one
on the hook since the day I met him.
Danny?.
I have a client in my office...
who's brought a lot ofbusiness
to this firm over theyears...
and I need you to be
on your best behavior.
Obviously, we at the campaign...
don't want to seem
too interested.
We don't want to be associated
in the public mind with-
Why don'tyou just walk away from it?.
That's exactlywhat I intend to do.
These things tend to stick
in the public mind.
People get distracted
from the message.
Gerald Ford falling down
that flight ofstairs.
And Carterwhacking
that little rabbitwith his paddle.
I don'twant my candidate
remembered as-
As the guywho hooked a stiff
in Arapaho Lake.
Exactly.
There's also the remote possibility
that this is not a coincidence.
I don't think
I'm being paranoid...
when I consider the possibility...
that one of our opponents
had something to do with it.
You mean somebody put a dead body
in the lake as a prank?.
I'm not accusing
the other side.
I'm saying that when you
play this game to win...
you're bound to step on a few toes.
There are a few loose cannons
on this deck...
people who hold grudges.
Who'd hold a grudge
against Dickie Pilager?.
Unless it was some hazing incident
from his fraternity days.
I am the best at what I do
because I have the best intelligence.
Here are three names.
These are people
who I consider to be...
unstable enough
orvindictive enough-
And you want them investigated?.
I want them confronted.
Let them know
they're being watched.
Don't be subtle.
A good, stiffwarning.
Nothing actionable.
And, of course, the press is not to
hear a whisper ofthis.
Totally confidential.
I'll expect a progress report
by... next Thursday.
Happy hunting.
I ought to put a muzzle on you.
Sorry.
Okay, you're offjury prep.
You're on this.
Don't worry about overtime
or expenses.
I really appreciate
your confidence, Grace.
Don't.
Peters is still in Grand Rapids
chasing the trust fund kid...
and Kelly's stuck in court
for the next two weeks.
What I want to know is,
can I trust you?.
I always picturedyou in some smokyhole
in the wall, hunched overyour computer...
spewing your bile at the military
industrial complex.
Yeah, well,
it is a hole in the wall...
but I'm surrounded by a bunch
of anti-tobacco fascists.
I thinkwe call 'em
pro-oxygen these days.
A bunch ofvegans
and computer nerds.
Half of'em don't know dick.
But they at least don't buy
the official story.
You're some kind of
investigator now, aren'tyou?.
Yeah. Some kind.
Maybeyou can do a little snooping
for me for the Web site.
- What's it pay?.
- What doyou think?.
- Bupkes.
- Yeah.
I don't really do politics anymore.
Debbie always said it was bad
for my mental health.
Nothing I can do
about it anyway.
Listen.
I'd like to run some names byyou.
CliffCastleton.
Neo-fascist radio crackpot.
I've listened to Mr. Castleton.
Very big with the crowd that thinks
our form of capital punishment...
isn't painful enough.
Casey Lyle.
He was a big cheese in one of
the health and safety agencies...
couple ofadministrations back.
- Unstable personality?.
- What, compared toyou?.
- Thanks.
- Speaking of unstable personalities-
Madeleine Pilager.
Nympho nutcase sister.
What is this you're working on?.
Something that if one detail ofit
ends up here on Kill-The-Rich. com...
I get fired.
You're no fun anymore.
YourWeb site- foryou,
this is a natural progression.
You neverwanted to be
a mainstream news guy.
- Neither did you.
- Of course I did.
Ifyou hadn't talked me into pushing that
fucking kickback story on Jerry Skaggs-
We were set up.
You could have triple-checked
the information.
You're working for them now,
aren'tyou?.
- Them?.
- Them that run the whole deal.
Listen...
what doyou know
about the Pilager family?.
Jeremiah Pilager,
who comes here in ...
sells dry goods at cutthroat prices
to the pickers and panners.
He accepts a land deed as payment
from one poor sourdough...
which becomes
the Pilager Seam.
So the lone wolf prospector legend?.
It's a crock. Boomtown money,
big mansions, extravagant lifestyles.
But when the silver bubble
bursts in ...
Pilager's already diversified,
and he comes out richer than ever.
These days, the family fortune
has switched from mines to...
cow pies.
More than you can possibly imagine.
If someone doesn't dispose of
this stufffrom time to time...
the stockwould be
up to its sirloin in shit.
- The family business.
- The flagship, so to speak.
The real money comes from
their association with this gentleman.
You know the nameWes Benteen?.
As in Benteen Ranch?.
Benteen Realty,
Benteen Medical Associates...
Gold Mine Communications,
BENagra...
which produces the poo-poo
the Pilagers clean up...
Bentel Stadium.
So he's the Bentel Corporation.
- Founder and CEO.
- Big money guy.
- Mega.
- And a real piece ofwork.
During the Iran-Contra thing, he sent
Oliver North's boys a set of cargo planes.
He used blacks and Chicanos
to bust the unions in slaughterhouses...
and then he fired half ofthem
and brought in migrants without papers.
He's never once been hit on
by the Immigration Service.
And he and the senator?.
When Richard, the son,
who is fondly referred to...
by his frat mates as "Dim Dickie"...
sinks his inheritance into Silver City,
a ghost town with an abandoned mine...
which turns out to be abandoned
for a good reason...
guess who bails him out by paying six
million dollars over its original value.
Wes Benteen.
A personal favor.
One contributor putting up
over halfthe money for a senate run.
- Looks kind offishy.
- Unless it comes from within the family.
So, Dickie Pilager.
Not a public official yet.
Serves as a front to Benteen,
bankrolling his father's campaign.
Benteen is in real estate.
He's in cattle.
He's in publishing, media, mining...
utilities, waste disposal.
How much federal regulation
doyou thinkthat entails?.
When Benteen wanted to end
health and safety inspections...
at his meat processing plant,
SenatorJud led the charge.
So he wants his own man in the governor's
mansion, someone corruptible.
There is not a corrupt bone in Dickie
Pilager's body. He's just- What?.
He's user-friendly.
Wes Benteen, Chuck Raven just saywhatever
they thinkwill get them what theywant.
Dickie Pilager is a true believer.
These are the guys
you're working for, pal.
I wasn't even born when most ofthis
happened, and it still pisses me off.
It's not like I'm helping them
get elected or anything.
You're just trying to pay
the rent like everybody else, right?.
- Any dirtyou can spare though.
- Come on, Mitch.
I've got... professional ethics.
Chickenshit.
Seen Nora lately?.
Nora?.
No. I see her byline.
I hear she's engaged
to some guy.
Terrific.
With the amount offederal money
coming to the state decreasing-
I'm not raising taxes.
What about the shortfall
in social programs?.
I repeat, I'm not raising taxes.
We can't just keep throwing the taxpayer's
hard-earned money at these perceived-
some ofthem, I admit, are real-
so-called social problems.
We have to get
our priorities straight.
Education is a priority.
Health care is a priority.
Our economy is a priority.
The environmental-
The whole environmental,
uh, arena-
that's a priority, big priority.
Building new roads
and maintaining the present-
keeping the infrastructure in place,
where it belongs- that's a priority.
What isn't a priority, sir?.
- What's not a priority?.
- Yeah.
Is those matters
which are less of a-
not that they're not
important, but-
Ifyou're gonna have
a front burner...
which is whereyou want
your priorities-
It's like cooking. There needs to be
something sitting on the back one.
That's whereyour
other organizations-
your church people
and your organizations...
formed to help these things...
will be happy to pitch in if only
government would get out oftheirway.
No, no. Press conference
is at : people.
It's no fair trying to kidnap the
candidate when we're late for a meeting.
One more question, sir.
- Where wereyou?.
- Gridlock.
Don't ever letyourself get caught
out in the open like that again.
Who's that chick in the red?.
She's on me again.
- The newswoman?.
- Yeah, whatever.
That's Nora Allardyce.
She writes for the Defender.
She was on my DWI's.
All that stufffrom years ago.
Give it a rest.
She'll back off.
I got something in the works.
Debbie?.
Debbie.
RockyMountains
that I love so much...
are part ofournational heritage.
They're something we must keep safe
for future generations.
Debbie?.
We have to stimulate the economy.
We have to encourage investment...
to get America working again.
Richard Pilager cares
about the elderly.
Our senior citizens are the ones-
There used to be a couch here.
" D-Day. "
"Cal I movers. "
She's been planning this
for fucking weeks.
"Sorry, but I had to do this.
Don't try to find me.
I'll call you
when you calm down. "
Modern life challenges
the nuclearfamily.
I want to nurture that family...
to protect andpromote
those traditional values...
which are the backbone
ofour American-
I'm extremely cal m.
Paid for by Citizens
for Responsible Government.
So, official ly, you're not here.
- Yeah, the candidate-
- I got the message from his people.
This guy's seriously dead.
Smells of- What?.
- Apricots.
- Yeah.
CBI sent a pathologist out,
took some tissue samples.
"Cause of death:
Deceased suffered multiple fractures
including trauma to the skull...
crushed rib cage and damage to
internal organs consistent with a fall. "
- Fall from what?.
- That's manner of death.
I left that blank so far.
Pathologist faxed me this.
- "A residue of cyanide-
- He was poisoned too?.
was present on hair and skin...
but none was present
in lungs, stomach or liver"
Like he'd been dipped
in the stuff. What else?.
- "Chlorine in the lungs"
- Like from a swimming pool, chlorine?.
Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just
a county coronerwith a law degree.
Any idea who he is?. Was.
Hispanic male,
late s, early s.
- He's dark, but how doyou get Hispanic?.
- Check out the dental work.
See, that kind of gold,
we're talking Mexico, maybe Guatemala.
Probably a manual laborer.
There's heavy callousing
on the hands.
Here's where the fish hook
snagged him.
Any I D on his clothes?.
Bought his shoes at Wal-Mart.
Other than that,
he's just anotherJuan Doe.
This is his only
distinguishing feature.
Can I take a photograph ofthat?.
Have one of mine.
You!
You're the oneworking
forthe Pilagers.
I'm not here officially.
I'm supposed to keepyou
in the loop on this.
Danny O'Brien.
You used towrite
for the Mountain Monitor.
When it existed, yeah.
- And you are?.
- Timberline County SheriffJoe Skaggs.
I used to know a Jerry Skaggs.
- My brother.
- How's he doing?.
He died a year ago
of colon cancer.
- I'm sorry to hear that.
- No, you're not.
This should be totally routine...
so don't go making it complicated.
I wouldn't think ofit.
You know who he is?.
CBI has nothing on his fingerprints.
The falls we get...
it's usually one of our many
climbing enthusiasts up from Boulder.
Theywander offthe trail
to admire theview, you know.
Haveyou checked
the stomach for granola?.
Sorry.
He's got that...
crossed-the-border-crammed-in-a-car-trunk
look to him.
We find a lot ofthose boys
out in the bush.
We never do get an I D.
Ifyou do stumble on anything
that pertains to this case...
what's the first call
you're gonna make?.
Timberline Sheriffs Department.
Ifanything goes public
before I know about it...
I'm coming afteryour ass.
Seeyou, Henry.
I don't think he likes you.
Russell, I can senseyourfrustration.
But what'syourpoint?
Okay, we go run their dictators
out ofthe country...
and suddenly it's our responsibility
to pay for reconstruction?
Ifl have Terminix come over
to get rid ofsome vermin...
they hand me the bill,
not the other way around.
I'm with you
a hundred percent, my friend.
It's the price ofdemocracy, and it's
only fair they're the ones to pay it.
Listen, we 're out oftime,
but I appreciate allyour calls today...
especial ly that wi ng nut
from Boulder.
Eat some red meat, buddy. Your brain needs
the protein. This is Cliff Castleton.
You've been listening
to The Hot Seat on KQRY...
the free voice...
ofthe American Rockies.
- Mr. Castleton.
- Talk to me.
Danny O'Brien. I'm here sort of
on behalf ofthe Pilager campaign.
Dickie didn't send you over.
His little pit bull did.
- Thatwould be?.
- Chuck Raven.
You know Mr. Raven.
Chucky and I go back
to campus politics.
You know the American Students' League?.
The information tables
at the airport?.
Something about
nuking Jane Fonda.
God, we miss her.
Soyou and Mr. Raven
were college buddies?.
I was in line to be national president
ofthe ASL.
The right wing answer
to Abbie Hoffman.
There was going to be
an orderly succession...
strict adherence to
parliamentary procedures...
when we start hearing about credential
challenges at the regional chapters.
- And behind this is?.
- Chuck Raven.
Mr. IfYou Can't Win The Game,
Just Change The Rules.
We come to the convention, we've got two
sets of delegates fighting over the seats.
Bedlam. We have to kick it up
to the party for a ruling.
Totally humiliating. This is when
the Democrats were riding high.
So we become this embarrassment.
- And who's the man to make the decision?.
- I have no-
- Judson Pilager.
- The senator.
Who Chuck Raven has been carefully
cultivating, knowing this would come up.
He wrote his damn thesis on the senator,
went to picnics with the family.
I'm not only screwed
in the election.
From that moment on,
I'm persona non grata with the party.
Soyou tell Chuckywhatever he wants,
he can go fuck himself.
You're being watched.
What?.
He wants you to know
you're being watched.
There's a perception that
you might have it in for the candidate.
There's more than a perception.
I let the little snot have it with
both barrels at least once a broadcast.
They think they can get me to
back down by investigating me?.
He's wishy-washy on right to life.
He's got no plans for dealing with this
alien invasion we're in the midst of.
You go to Pueblo, English is
the second language, ifnot the third.
He's a draft dodger and a mama's boy
and a dimwit.
Ifhewasn't running against a known
communist, I'd run him out ofthe state.
What I'm saying is...
ifyou were to do anything
illegal to embarrass the candidate-
Ifl were to pasteyou one in the mouth
right now, would that be illegal?.
I don't think that'll be necessary.
You come into my studio
with threats and intimidation.
- Thankyou foryourtime.
- Tell Chuck Raven I'm not afraid ofhim!
I'll conveyyour sentiments.
Best luckwith your show.
Hewants a piece ofme,
he knows where to find me!
Little prickwouldn't last
seconds on the airwith me!
I want them dead in thewater!
Listen to me.
If, when we are finished here...
ifhe can still show his face
in the state ofColorado...
we will have failed our mission!
Okay?.
Okay?.
Just do it.
Okay.
So how did it go with our friends
from Cherry Hills?.
I think they get it. They can finance
the attack campaign-
Public information outreach.
As long as it's limited to phone calls
and print material...
financed directly through
the educational committee they set up.
And we provide them with-
Advise them.
Advise them on which agency to hire on
the content ofthe print material...
and the text
for the phone messages.
We give them voter lists,
home and work numbers-
Stephanie, getJim Wilkinson
at The Defender...
and when my call from Washington
comes through, get it to me right away.
When will these ads get here?.
- Where the hell is he?.
- He's in with his spiritual advisor.
Oh,Jesus Christ!
He may be in there too.
We're talking about murder.
The murder ofinnocents.
There's a limit towhat
I can do on this, Billy.
It's the kind ofissue that attracts
a lot ofpeople to the polls...
whowouldn't ordinarilyvote.
Ifyou were to take
leadership on the issue...
throw the full force of
your office behind it-
Ifyou can get it on a referendum.
I honestly don't think
it would pass...
not in the secular climate
we live in.
But when Moses found
the children oflsrael...
prostrate before the golden calf,
did he call for a referendum?.
No, he did not.
Excuse me, Reverend Tubbs.
- We need him.
- We're discussing the children oflsrael.
We must obey
the th Commandment:
"Thou shalt not keep
the press waiting"
With a planned community,
you knowwhatyou're getting.
People own their houses,
they own shares in the amenities...
but the corporation
calls the shots.
This whole section here
will be assisted living.
The lake is a nice attraction.
The lake is the key.
Halfthese people,
they don't fish, they don't boat...
they can't climb a flight ofstairs,
much less a mountain...
but knowing it's there
just around the bend-
- Live in the Rockies.
- We're selling a dream.
Now, of course,
a few regulations need to be-
The Development Association
would be happy-
Which I pay into.
The association has to concentrate
on some general legislation right now.
Any individual cases would be-
- You talk to Chuck Raven.
- On a daily basis, yeah.
After all, he's the brains
behind our future governor.
You need examples,
specific instances...
foryour general
legislation, right?.
Silver Citywould be
a perfect model.
That wouldn't be fair to
the other members ofthe association.
Showing favoritism would
compromise my position.
But ifyou were to retain my services...
as a lobbyist on an individual case...
there's no reason I couldn't honestly
serve both clients equally...
during my talks with
the future governor and his staff.
Retaining.
So much of my cash is tied up with
the acquisition ofthe land.
I could probablywork
on a commission basis.
You mean, like,
a piece ofthe action?.
Mort, the regulatory legislation
that the governor is going to bat for?.
I'm writing it.
What, doyou think the association
pays me to suck up to these people?.
We're only that far from qualifying for
an economic initiative subsidy.
Timberline County
is on the ropes.
And ifthe State was to relax
the soil standards just a fraction-
There's no reason we couldn't...
raise the river and lower the bridge
at the same time.
How big a piece ofthe action
would this be?.
In the case of capital offenses...
I am absolutely in favor
ofthe death penalty.
You hear stories
about frontierjustice.
You can bet that the wrongdoers...
the folks who couldn't
play by the rules...
they had some respect
for that.
And there was no-
Taxpayers didn't pay any-
Ifthey had had
taxpayers back then-
Those were the good old days,
I suppose.
All you needed
was a good, strong rope...
and a tree to hang it from.
So you support mandatory sentencing?.
My message to the criminals is this:
you straighten up or get out.
There's no place foryou
in our state.
You do the crime and, by God...
you're gonna have to
faceyour lumps.
But the majority ofthose serving time
for drug possession are-
You want to change a behavior?.
Stiffen the consequences.
There have been reports, Mr. Pilager...
that before you entered politics,
you had considerable experience-
Look, ifyou're up
in a helicopter, airplane...
you know,
something that flies...
you don't wantyour pilot
intoxicated with drugs, doyou?.
It's that way
with our schoolchildren.
Junior can't read
ifhe's high on crack.
Yeah, the air is
thin enough up here. Yes.
The question
you have to askyourselfis...
doyou wantyour county to be
thought ofas one big Superfund site?.
We've got Carbonville.
Or one big migrant labor camp?.
No offense intended.
Or doyou want Silver City...
emerging like a shining phoenix
from the ashes?.
The land.
Bentel Corporation
had no further use for it.
And, of course, it's been classified
as a degraded habitat.
Meaning?.
Meaning the environmental folks
won't be breathing down our necks...
once we get
this project rolling.
But the soil is still full of
heavy metals. Ifyou dig a well-
We're not digging anywells.
We've got some folks downstate...
I'm pretty surewill be happy
to sell us theirwater rights.
Whywould they do that?.
Let's sayyou growyour crop
out on an arid plain.
Gotta irrigate the hell
out ofthe land.
Gotta rely on federal price supports.
Now, you pull that price support
out ofthe equation...
well, there's a bunch offarmers who'd
be thrilled to cash in their chips...
for a healthy,
onetime water settlement.
- How doyou know that's gonna happen?.
- The price support is a line item...
pushed into the federal budget
everyyear by our senator,Jud Pilager.
He told you that-
Chuck. Hot on the campaign trail.
- How's it going?.
- Good, good.
- You know our man here?.
- Governor.
Don't jump the gun.
You're up in the polls.
Hey, I'd like to introduceyou...
to some ofyour supporters
out in the trenches.
This is the Timberline
County Commission.
Please, don't stand up.
This is Phil, Ellie,
Freddy Mondragón.
It's such a pleasure.
Hey, where's your electric train?.
This is Silver City.
Really.
I owned a patch ofland
out where that used to be.
Pretty near lost my sh-
Mort is spearheading
the development...
of some ofthe property
in that part ofthe state.
Nice to see private sector
taking a little initiative.
- Thankyou.
- Right.
You folks in Timberline could use
a shot in the arm, and he-
Mort.
Mort is the fella
that could do it foryou.
- Have a nice lunch.
- Thankyou. You too.
Terrific guy, Dickie.
He'll make a hell ofa governor.
Still writing in restaurants?.
Hi. Sorry.
So this is where
all the politicians hang out.
And the humble reporters
who cover them.
How's... Debbie?.
She moved out...
from where she was living, with me.
- Oh. Sorry.
- Took the furniture.
I should have been suspicious when
she bought all those boxes from Staples.
- Soyou were having problems.
- Apparently.
We weren't-
Maybe she wanted
somebody more predictable.
You're totally predictable, Danny.
You get involved in something positive,
then find a way to fuck it up.
And you're-
I'm... fine.
Fine. They have me assigned
to the governor's race, so-
- Listen, there's a work thing.
- Areyou still a private eye?.
- Investigator, yeah.
- Yeah.
Your friend who worked in health care
with the migrants?.
- Rebecca Zeller.
- Zeller. Right.
- She still in town?.
- In the phone book.
- Sorry I'm late.
- Hey.
Just greasing the rustywheels
of government. Hi.
Chan, this is Danny, who I told you
about. Danny, ChandlerTyson.
- Danny- Ex-boyfriend from hell Danny?.
- Yes!
Hi.
I knowyou.
Really?. I don't think so.
Yeah, on TV.
That was a while ago.
The public statements I was making...
on behalf ofthe industry.
- You're a tobacco lobbyist.
- One of our clients, yes.
You said there was no scientific
evidence that smoking can cause cancer.
I see myself as sort of a champion
ofthe underdog.
Every point ofview,
no matter how politically incorrect...
deserves an advocate
in the court of public opinion.
I heard thatyou were with somebody new,
but, hey, a champion ofthe underdog.
- Great.
- It was nice to seeyou, Danny.
- Yeah. Right.
- Rebecca Zeller.
Yes.
Keep up the good fight.
Thanks.
Of course, getting dentists to see
Medicaid patients was never any picnic.
And then the migrants...
they'd rather chew aspirin
for the rest oftheir lives...
than risk getting
the I NS involved.
- Who hires undocumented workers then?.
- Who doesn't?.
Nice, cheap laborwho can't complain
to the authorities...
ifthey're ripped off or mistreated.
Just continue around straight,
Mr. Scarpa. That's it.
Doyou have a list of employers?.
Six months old.
A lot ofthese characters, these little
construction outfits and whatnot...
they move around.
It's a place for me to start.
You really blew it,
you know?.
- With Nora.
- Tell me about it.
She was devastated after she left you.
She seems pretty happy
with this Chandler guy.
- Mercenary little prick.
- You've met him.
I'm working for- this is
strictly confidential, by the way-
a close friend
ofyour employer.
The Pilager family?.
Look, I onlywant to know
if any ofyourworkers are missing.
What, these guys?. They're all missing.
They don't exist, right?.
Illegal.
Undocumented.
Whatever.
Look, this is a prep crew.
The foundation, the frame and the roof.
I don't get into citizens
until the plumbing and wiring go in.
- This is standard practice?.
- Ifyou want to stay competitive, it is.
Look, I'm a subcontractor.
Bentel hires someone,
who hires me...
and I hire a guy to go out and find these
"trabajeros" on a job-to-job basis.
I ask him no questions.
If somebody doesn't
show up forwork?.
My labor contractor makes sure
there's somebody ready to take his place.
I don't know the language.
I don't even learn their names.
It's like, "Yo, amigo,"
and you show 'em whatyou want.
The Immigration?.
You know, the funny thing,
working for Bentel...
we don't seem to have
too much trouble from them.
Right.
- Corona.
- It's conoce.
You don't say "sabe" when you're
asking about a person.
It's-
It's not "el mano"?
It's irregular.
Like a gringo coming to this bar
asking questions.
Irregular.
Right.
So what's his name,
this tipo you're looking for?.
I don't know.
Tough to find somebody,
you don't know his name.
He has this on... la mano.
There's a reward
for this information?.
- There could be.
- How much?.
$ ...
to whoever can put the name
to this tattoo.
Tony Guerra.
That's the name.
- Who's Tony Guerra?.
- Speaking.
I'll take s ifyou got 'em.
What doyou want with me?.
I gotta warn you.
I'm a citizen.
I don't have to take no shit.
It's notyou.
- How doyou know that?.
- You're still breathing.
Where'd you get
the tattoo?.
Me and the lavaplatos
from my kitchen...
we went out one night,
I got a little borracho.
- You're a cook?.
- I'm a chef, porfavor.
Up in Vail, with the ski bunnies.
We're talking blue corn polenta
with mango-chipotle salsa...
free-range sage hens
stuffed with chestnuts.
The tattoos.
I saw it on a wall in this place
we went, liked the way it looked.
I asked the dude,
"Lay it on me"
I keep my own records,
you know, ifyou can call it that.
I have them sign
when they come in.
I check their I D
ifthey look underage.
Redeye Stinger.
"Tony Guerra"
- He was pretty drunk, that guy.
- No, not him.
Try earlier.
I only done
one other stinger this year.
Doyou remember anything about him?.
The other one.
Another Mexican. I think.
I get so many bean-eaters in here.
I was probablyjust glad
it wasn't her again.
I could do that tat
with my eyes closed.
So, is this like a cop thing?.
I imagine they'll get
around toyou pretty soon.
There he is. Lázaro Huerta.
And the catererwill be here
very, very early.
I get up with the sun.
How's my-
How's the candidate holding up?.
Give it to me straight.
He doesn't haveyour head for policy.
I'd like to see him plowing his way
through the appropriations bill.
He's never been
much ofa reader.
Well, we break it down and feed it
to him bite-sized.
He's impatient.
He's always been impatient.
He's knuckling down. You have
every reason to be proud ofhim.
Publicly-
He's a fucking disaster
when he's offthe script.
I don't thinkwe have to worry
so much about him straying that far.
I mean, as long as nothing
comes flying in from left field.
And what would that be?.
In Carbonville...
right next to
Everything For A Buck store.
I've looked up Huertas
in the phone book.
I've called them all.
Shit!
I seem to be missing
a microwave oven.
Ifanything else comes up, I'll make
sure to get back toyou, Sheriff.
Okay.
She takes the broom,
leaves the dustpan.
Story of my life.
Hello?.
- Yes, hi, it's-
- Danny?.
Yeah. It was great
to seeyou the other day.
You looked really good, Danny.
Hey, if this is about me
and Chandler-
No, no.
This is business.
I'm doing a little background
on the Pilager family...
and sinceyou're covering the-
I'm actuallygoing to a function
at the senator's house tomorrow...
a thank-you
for their big fund-raisers.
Ifyou promise to be
on your best behavior-
That would be great.
Chandlerwon't mind, will he?.
It's a fund-raising thing.
Whywould he mind?.
Nora, I've been thinking
a lot aboutyou lately.
Even before Debbie left, I-
Danny, stop.
It's too late, all right?.
It's really sweet ofyou,
but we've both moved on, haven't we?.
Yeah. Right.
We're yesterday's news.
Sorry to botheryou at this hour.
Good night.
Good night, Danny.
Richard Pilager cares
about the family.
So, what did you see in him?.
He was intense.
You know, he cared about things.
Oh, my God.
He used to-
He used to write on the walls.
- Like graffiti?.
- In the house.
He'd be working on a story,
and he'd get so wrapped up in it...
that he'd, like,
get a Magic Marker...
and write all the names and important
facts all over the living room wall...
and then he'd try
to connect the dots.
Soyou had to live with it.
The landlord
wasn't thrilled about it...
but Danny always
painted over it.
You know, he thought-
This was when we were still at the
Monitor, when it was still political.
He thought that journalists
should change things...
you know, not just report.
He wanted to be the referee
and not just the scorekeeper.
I guess.
When I was a press liaison
for Fred Loomis...
we had a slogan
on the wall.
It said, "You don't tell us
how to stage the news...
and we won't tell you
how to report it"
Terrific.
Power is a locomotive, babe.
You either hop on board,
or it runs right overyou.
Sounds like he laid down
on the tracks.
See ya.
- Dinner at La Fonda?.
- Yeah.
He was the love of my life.
It rains like the dickens
in these mountains...
butyou won't see any streams
running down them.
So where does the water go?.
Whatyou're looking at
is honeycombed with hundreds...
maybe thousands of mine shafts.
When you stop
pumping the water out...
over time those holes
fill up top to bottom...
till there's nowhere else
for it to go.
A huge pressure builds up
looking for an outlet.
In ...
four miners broke a pick hole...
in a wall to an adjacent area...
that hadn't been worked
in years.
Water exploded
out ofthat wall...
drove those four fellas
and their equipment...
back through the shaft they'd dug,
out into the main tunnel...
that Newhouse had built
to service the mine...
blasted through an opening...
and blew the water clear across
the river to the other side.
For three days, water blasted out
ofthat mountain-
timber, tracks, loose rocks,
half-ton ore cars...
flying through the air
like theywere toys.
You know, we think
we can wound this planet.
We thinkwe can cut costs
and stick the money in our pockets...
and just walk awaywith it.
But someday the bill comes due.
This oreyou're looking at...
assays out at about
an ounce and a halfa ton...
which can be
worth yourwhile...
depending on how much it costs you
to get it out ofthe ground.
You gotta knock it down
with dynamite...
throw it on one
ofthose carts up there...
and then upstairs,
run it through all the crushers...
and chemicals separate out
the valuable stufffrom the tailings.
Yeah. Now, ifyou want to move up ahead
to under that stope...
and look offto the left...
you'll see what every miner
was hoping for-
a vein of almost pure
yellow stuff.
You can all fit in.
I'll join you in a minute.
Soyou were a miner?.
Mining engineer...
until I went to work for the feds.
Got interested
in how to do the job...
better and safer.
That was under Carter.
He put some teeth in the rules.
What's your beef
with Dickie Pilager?.
You're not here just for the tour,
are you?.
I have to inform you
you're being watched.
Is that so?.
There was an incident
on the campaign trail the other day...
and your name came up
as a potential-
- Perpetrator?.
- Something like that.
It's the old man
whose guts I hate.
- The senator.
- Him and his pal Benteen.
Take a good look, Dickie.
What doyou see?.
Mountains?.
I see a big sign that says,
"No Americans allowed"
You do?.
You look at a map, they got
halfthe West under lock and key.
They?.
Bureau of Land Management,
Forest Service...
national parks,
the State.
Right. Right.
It's like a treasure chest
waiting to be opened...
only there's a -pound bureaucrat
sitting on it.
I'm a small government man.
That's whywe choseyou, son.
Of course, the people-
The people gotta be grabbed by the horns
and dragged to what's good for 'em.
The people.
You remember the shale oil?.
Over in Parachute.
The big oil companies say
theywere gonna squeeze oil out of rock.
The people come flocking
like a damn herd ofsheep.
Thought theywere all
gonna get rich quick...
like with every other mineral strike
in the history ofthis state.
But who's left holding the shiny stuff
after all the dust clears?.
Who?.
- The folks that see the big picture.
- Right.
That's me and you, son.
We're looking at it right now,
all around us.
Right.
Couple ofweeks,
I'm gonna have to call you Governor.
You know what the big picture is,
don'tyou, Dickie?.
It's-
Privatization.
The land was meant
for the citizens...
not them damn pencil pushers
in Washington.
Like this Silver City deal?.
Just a pile of mine debris
I'm trying to unload.
Son, we got resources here
you wouldn't believe.
Untapped resources.
You and your dad are the point men in
the fight to liberate those resources...
for the American people.
Aspen, Vail.
That ain't shit compared
to what I could build...
ifthey opened this up
to somebodywith some ideas...
with some know-how.
I understand.
And the people won't get it done...
not by a long sight.
They get distracted worrying about
some postcard idea ofthe Rockies...
some black-footed ferret
or endangered tumbleweed.
But if a man ofvision
were to come along-
I can see it.
How's that saddle feeling?.
It's coming along.
We'll make a cowboy
out ofyou yet.
We'ddoneso well with that one...
I took on the second biggest
hazard in the state-
the Silver City
mining operation.
Owned by Dickie Pilager.
He owned the land, but Benteen was
leasing the mineral rights.
They go hand in glove,
you know-
the Benteens
and the Pilagers.
- Theywere still digging.
- They had acres and acres oftailings...
piled up from
the Silver City glory days.
Looked like a pile oftrash rock...
but ifyou could process it
on a large enough scale-
I'm talking about bulldozers
the size ofbattleships-
you could make a fortune.
Providing jobs for
the economically depressed.
A few, sure.
But then we started getting
nasty pH readings...
from the watershed
all around them.
Started getting
fish die-off...
heavy metal residue.
The company said it was from the old mine
shafts in these mountains around them.
There was nothing
they could do about it.
Not true?.
Theywere concentrating the gold
in these huge leach piles...
and then dumping
cyanide solution on them.
- They used cyanide?.
- Sodium cyanide.
It's a lixiviate.
Basic chemistry.
Smells like apricots
for miles around.
I had an informant inside.
Or I thought I did.
Esparza- thatwas his name.
Vincent Esparza.
He told me theywere pushing
all the contaminants to one side.
No treatment,
no containment.
Just leaving it out there
forthe elements.
And thatwas what's getting
into ourwater system.
He even helped me plan
my surprise inspection.
But when I got there...
nothing but a bunch
of empty pits...
and a workforce
with their lips buttoned.
I felt like an idiot.
I'd brought the press,
photographers.
And your inside man, Esparza?.
Gone with the wind. They said
he'd been fired months earlier.
You got sandbagged.
Benteen, he doesn't take any prisoners.
He had his friend,
Senator Pilager...
appoint a new man
at the top...
whose only mission was
to castrate the agency.
And who doyou think
got fired first?.
Then they started allegations
of misuse offunds.
There were even public hints
about a drinking problem.
And when I tried to go back to work
as a mining engineer...
I found out soon enough I was
all but unhireable in the industry.
Yeah.
And then I figured, well...
since they accused me of
having a drinking problem...
I just might as well develop one.
And even with all that,
you still wouldn't-
They don't have to worry about me,
the Pilagers.
I know when I'm licked.
Ifthere's one thing I know
all ofyou good folks have in common...
it's that you know a good investment
when you see one.
A big part of our agenda
is up and rolling on a federal level...
but it's high time we had somebody
running this state...
who's a hundred percent
behind the program.
Hear! Hear!
This has required a great commitment
oftime and finances...
from each and every
one ofyou.
And despite the attack
on our rights by Proposition ...
you folks went out and you shook
the money tree like never before.
So I'm here to present
our next governor...
a young man who-
well, who's almost
as good-looking as his father.
Richard Pilager!
I know none ofyou came here
to listen to another speech.
But I'd just like to say
how much I appreciate...
your support in this... effort
we've got going...
to bring sober, responsive government
back to this great state.
And you might as well
pledge some money...
to my daddy's next campaign
whileyou're here.
Thankyou.
So, Mr. Benteen.
How's it look for
the Prospectors this year?.
- You a fan?.
- Sure.
Why?.
They're fun to watch.
More fun when theywin
than when they lose.
- Sure.
- Nothing to be ashamed of.
It's basic human behavior.
You can always pull
for the underdog.
Americans don't have the patience
for underdogs they used to.
They don't?.
A coach goes three seasons
without a ring, he's out on his ass...
as he should be.
Hendrickson has been off
for how long now?.
Hendrickson isn't coming back.
People want to back a winner.
They need to feel a part
of something bigger than they are.
They used to advertise
the quality of a product-
tastes great,
whitens your teeth...
shaves close,
rides like a dream.
Now what do they push?.
America's number one soft drink.
Best-selling mid-sized utilityvehicle.
It isn't "buy the product"
It's "join the club"
You make people feel part ofa winner,
they'll followyou anywhere.
You a winner, son?.
I like to think so.
Good boy.
You know, Dickie is not really
a fine print kind of guy.
He's more intuitive.
My people have whittled the regs down
pretty much to where we want them to be.
It's fairly simple stuff.
"Environmental Heritage Initiative"
Yeah, we thought it sounded better than
"Developers' Bill Of Rights"
You breathe the word "deregulation,"
certain parties get a little uppity.
- What is he doing here?.
- You know him?.
His agency is looking into
something for us.
Really?. Good luck.
What does that mean?.
He used to be a reporter.
O'Brien.
Till he screwed the pooch
and bankrupted his paper.
Grace Seymour hired him
on the rebound.
And when was all this?.
I'm surprised you could find me.
You must be some kind of detective.
So this Lázaro could have
worked in a kitchen?.
They bus them up
from Carbonville every day.
Resort towns run
on frijole power, man.
The richer the Anglos are...
the more of mis hermanos delsur
they got working for 'em.
- Your restaurant caters too?.
- I'm moonlighting, man.
They're doing a big renovation.
I got two weeks off starting tomorrow.
I figured I go up to Black Hawk...
hit the casinos before my ex-wife gets
ahold of my paycheck.
How would you like
to work for me?.
You know who most
ofthe labor contractors are.
What's it pay?.
Whateveryou make a day
at the restaurant, plus .
- Private eye, huh?.
- Looks good on the resumé.
I'm thinking
about the chicks, man.
In the movies, those cabrones
make out like crazy.
You speak the language.
You know how to get around.
So what happened to this Lázaro Huerta
that he's not breathing no more?.
Multiple fractures, busted skull,
punctured lung.
Still want the job?.
Thanks.
Why did she dumpyou?.
- Debbie?.
- Yeah.
Maybe she figured out I was always gonna
treat her like the consolation prize.
I mean, afteryou,
I kind of retired, emotionally.
We were- I don't know.
Incompatible?.
We had our issues.
She seemed way too structured
for someone likeyou.
Why did you dump me?.
You were so down on yourself...
so convinced
thatyou were a loser...
that I started
to agree with you.
- I was a loser.
- You lost a job.
You were moving up,
and I was moving down.
And I didn't quit the paperwhen
you were fired. That wasn't loyal.
- I deserved to be fired.
- You were set up.
And I was ambitious.
So, areyou marrying this guy?.
Seems like the mature thing
to do, yeah.
- That sounds exciting.
- Come on, Danny.
It's not earth-shaking
between us, but-
Romance is for kids.
We like to ski.
We like to travel.
He's a corporate mouthpiece.
And I'm a part of
the entertainment business.
What else doyou think
is out there?.
Look, I hopeyou're happywith it.
No, you don't.
Come on up. There's somebody here
I'd likeyou to meet.
- Stay in touch. Okay?.
- Yeah.
I've never been so close before.
I know how much
this means toyou.
The county commission
went offwalking on air...
when Chuck Raven
brought Dickie Pilager to the table.
That was a nice thing for him to do.
Nice?. I'm paying ChandlerTyson
a fortune for that kind ofaccess.
- A fortune?.
- A slice ofthe pie.
But theywere starstruck, Gracie.
The zoning's in the bag.
These people
will bend over backwards.
You have worked so hard.
Ifwe were
a little bit more liquid...
I'd sink every dimewe have
into this thing.
Likeyou did that time
with the stock market?.
Hell, it's more than the money.
I'm building a city, Grace.
A city.
We run something on theWeb site-
information we've got-
we connect the dots...
and the guilty party,
they pretend to ignore it.
Ifthey sue us, certain documents
could be entered in a court oflaw...
where ifyou deny things
it's perjury.
You gotta have the documents.
It's amazing what things are blowing
under my door and end up on my desk.
So, you plant the seed.
And the mainstream guys,
the print journalists...
they bring it to their editors
and their editors say...
"Cool yourjets. This is too far out.
We don't have the resources.
We don't have the balls
to go after this kind ofthing.
But track the story...
and ifit ever breaks-"
You gotta have the balls.
So we keep accumulating the facts...
till the story is screaming out
so loud it's impossible to ignore.
And they run a little test item
on page six...
saying allegations
have been made.
Allegations?.
It's beneath their dignity
to quote some cellar-dwellerWeb site...
in their hallowed journal.
But the bastards in power have to
publicly deny those allegations...
and then they're fair game.
First it's the columnists
taking potshots.
Then when they've got
the politicians on the run...
they use our legwork, our ideas to write
outraged exposés and win Pulitzers.
Then they gang up
like a pack ofjackals.
But somebody has to plant the seed.
The seed of doubt.
He seems a lot more gubernatorial
with the sound off.
Fora dayis coming, myfriends...
a great dayanda terrible day...
a day when the skies shall open
and the waters shall part...
and the dead shall rise up
and walk upon the Earth.
And the wicked and the righteous
shall be judged alike.
But that day cannot come...
unless the children oflsrael
are within the holy land...
for so it has been prophesied
in the great Book ofRevelations.
So let us look at
a map ofthe Middle East.
Let us look at
the headlines oftoday...
and see what conclusions
we can draw from the evidence.
Many are the portents
and the signs.
But we need
to discern a pattern.
We need to connect
one event with the other...
and it will be clear
that there are no accidents...
that there is
a greater force at work...
and it holds the plan
for Armageddon.
Richard Pilager cares
about the American worker.
You work with the same bunch
al I the ti me?.
Yeah, more or less. As far as I know,
they're all citizens.
I wasn't asking that.
Mojados are a bit cheaper,
but they're not worth the hassle.
Need some hard huevos
to keep 'em in line.
Not that I got
anything against 'em.
I wouldn't go that far.
Butyou should check into
the packing houses across town.
They got a lot of'em
in there making chorizo.
Any ofyour own guys been missing
the last few days?.
You're looking for
this Lázaro, right?.
Cops were here this morning
asking the same thing.
- I'm not a cop.
- No shit.
But it's like I told him.
I got no Lázaros here.
Who brings 'em up...
here in Timberline County?.
- You heard ofVince Esparza?.
- Yeah, I've heard the name.
He's the Saddam-fucking-Hussein
oflabor contractors.
They pay the coyote half up front
to get them across the border...
and when they're delivered here
they owe Esparza the rest.
- So they start in the hole.
- And they stay in it.
He keeps them
moving around the country...
keeps them isolated,
keeps them scared.
Where can I find him?.
You do not want to fuckwith
Vicente Esparza, my friend.
I hired a few ofhis boys
without knowing it once.
They'd run off or try to
make theirway back home.
Next thing I know,
I got a shotgun stuck in my face.
What's up?.
Daniel O'Brien.
I called earlier.
She's back in the rink.
- Just keep heading straight through.
- Thanks.
I wanna play that last one back.
Nice shot.
It bit.
Training forthe Olympics?.
Actually, I am.
The only sport
I'm not already too old for.
No, thanks.
Helps me with the Zen aspect
ofthe thing.
Eventually the arrow should become one
with the bull's-eye and release itself.
Then I'll just be like a channel.
- So, you from Home and Garden orwhat?.
- I'm working for Chuck Raven.
Go on.
You're, like, really accurate
with that, right?.
It depends on
how much dope I've smoked.
- How much haveyou smoked?.
- I've lost track.
There was an incident
on the campaign trail...
that was potentially embarrassing
toyour brother.
What, he made a speech
without a teleprompter?.
There was a dead body involved.
Anyone I know?.
Lázaro Huerta?.
Can't place him.
Maybe just another skeleton
out of Daddy's closet.
You sure you don't want a hit?.
- You look a little tense.
- No. It makes me paranoid.
Like someone's gotyou
in their crosshairs?.
Yeah. Something like that.
How about a drink then?.
A bottle oftequila byyour left leg.
You're not gonna, like, shoot it
out of my hand or anything?.
Relax.
Soyou're some kind of
a campaign lackey?.
- Investigator.
- Am I being investigated?.
Mr. Raven thinks you may be
harboring a grudge.
Mywhole life is a fucking grudge.
Investigator.
You go to some kind
of school for that?.
No, I was working as a reporter.
- I hate reporters.
- Well, I'm not one anymore.
Fifteen years old, I'm pregnant...
the fucking Mountain Monitor
outs me.
"Senator's Daughter
In College Sex Scandal"
It was before my time.
The whole thing was set up.
Fly to Nevada, nice, quiet operation,
back to school within a week.
- You could still have had a-
- Public abortion?.
With the Christian crusaders
block-voting for my father?.
So he advised you not to.
- I was a hopeful.
- A hopeful?.
Yeah. Olympic hopeful.
Figure skating.
Nine months
carrying DeweyJunior...
another four to recover.
My bodywasn't the same.
Your center of gravity changes...
and you can't do the jumps.
That's what happened
to Tonya Harding, you know.
It wasn't Nancy Kerrigan.
It was her center of gravity.
You mature,
your perception changes...
and you never get it back.
What's your name?.
You're cute.
Thanks.
If I'm being investigated,
I could do worse.
Excuse me.
And who wants to know?.
You gotta be him.
Howyou figure on that?.
It's the shoes, ese. Braceros don't be
wearing their party boots on the job.
Vince Esparza.
Man, you a legend.
People sayyou got crews
working all over the county.
People say a lot of shit
that isn't necessarily true.
I'm looking for a guy
named Lázaro Huerta.
I don't keep track
oftheir names.
I'm not runnin'
a summer camp here.
Would you mind ifl was to askyour
jornaleros a few questions?.
Yeah, I would mind.
They're here to work.
Theywanna blow their nose, scratch their
balls, talk about their girlfriends...
they can do it
on their own time.
This is a job here.
This is private property.
And ifsomeone who is not authorized
to be here was to get hurt...
it'd be my responsibility.
They're hiding something.
My first husband
was a downhill racer.
Won the bronze at Innsbruck.
Wow.
He ditched me in, what, ' .
My girlfriend just moved out.
You poor baby.
Took my couch.
You can have this one
ifyou want.
She picked it out.
It was both of ours.
She paid for half ofit.
Rodney?.
They called him Hot Rod.
Won the bronze?.
He runs a lodge in Aspen
he got as a settlement.
He sued you for alimony?.
Daddy paid him off so he wouldn't
file adultery charges.
Anything to avoid
another public scandal.
You were adultering?.
Yeah. But so was he.
But he was the one who hired some
fucking investigator to take pictures.
We don't do much ofthat
these days- divorce stuff.
- Transom peeping?.
- Nobody has transoms anymore.
Butyou still peep.
Well, mostly it's on,
you know, computer records.
We have ways to access.
We share information, buy lists-
your credit balance, whereyou travel,
what videos you rent.
Wow.
That's invasion of privacy.
So the skier ditched you.
Then I tried living
in California for a while...
but there was nobody there
to embarrass but myself.
- Soyou are trying to embarrass him.
- It's pointless.
What could I do they haven't seen worse
on some reality show?.
You're a senator's daughter...
sister to the future governor.
They catch one president
getting a BJ in the Oval Office.
The next rigs the election,
gets awaywith it.
People have lost the ability
to be scandalized.
So nowyour ambition is?.
Make sure my son
gets out ofhis s in one piece.
Represent my country in .
You're that good at it, huh?.
You know...
the Amazon women
amputated one oftheir breasts.
It got in the way
ofthe bow string.
Give me three
ofthose lottery tickets.
I'm feeling kinda lucky
all ofthe sudden.
Somebody's fucking with me.
These were bad guys.
They owned a whole bunch
oflow-rent housing downtown.
The building boom had started,
and they had a big offer to sell...
but they couldn't
legally evict their tenants.
So theywere doing
strong-arm stuff, intimidating.
- There was even some arson involved.
- The march of progress.
The housing inspectorwho should have
been on top ofthis- Skaggs-
was taking payoffs.
I had these two informants-
very Deep Throat.
Meetings in parking garages,
the whole deal.
And they give me the big lead.
Now, this is criminal activity
that they're exposing.
So I write the story. My editor, Mitch,
he trusts me enough to run with it.
And they're willing
to testify in court?.
They said yeah, ifit came to it.
But I didn't have 'em on tape.
The landlord and the inspector
sue the paper...
one of my sources blows town
and the other flat denies it.
Big retraction,
settlement out of court...
and I'm seriously fired.
Worse, I'm the guy
who fabricates.
From that day on...
the Monitor concentrated on who bakes
the best chocolate chip cookie in Denver.
And I couldn't get a job
delivering a newspaper.
- The editor should've-
- He got fired too.
He runs a- What doyou call it?.
A Web site.
At leastyou did something.
You know?. I've just been taking up space
and emptying out my trust fund.
Hey, you took all these pictures.
That's a hobby.
You raised a kid.
Isn't he gorgeous?.
His father-
His biological father-
Bugged out
ofthe whole deal.
I can't blame him, with the publicity
and what a little tramp I was then.
But DeweyJunior is a-
He's a nice guy, you know.
Despite having me for a mother.
You raised a nice kid.
Maybe that's
whatyou're good at.
One ofthe things
I'm good at.
This is a nation
basedon Christian principles.
What I promise
to work for...
is a government
that respects those principles.
A government that supports
traditional familyvalues...
that respects the sanctity
ofhuman life.
A government strong enough,
brave enough...
to maintain
the cultural equilibrium.
What's "cultural equilibrium" mean?.
No handouts for homos.
Hey.
- What's up, sugar?.
- Can some ofthe guys stay over tonight?.
They don't have homes?.
They don't have satellite.
There's stuffwe want to watch.
You'll have to sort out
where everybody sleeps.
- I can handle that.
- You sounded really good today.
You should find a club to play in.
- We don't have any of our own material.
- So write some.
Write about what a mess
your mother is, like Eminem does.
Yeah.
- Seeya.
- Seeya.
Closing time at the zoo.
Getyour clothes on.
I haven't slept this well in days.
Yeah, I don't sleep much
unless I pass out.
One nation under God...
with liberty and justice-
Who is this?.
Chuck.
It's Maddy Pilager calling.
- How'dyou get mynumber?
- Never mind, you little creep.
I just fucked your messenger boy.
Danny-
What's your last name again?.
- Oh, shit.
- Danny O'Shit.
Tell him I'm firing him.
You send anybody else after me, I swear
I'll put an arrow through his neck.
You needhelp, Maddy.
You're a sick person.
I love you too.
He says you should check in
with your office more often.
You were fired this morning.
Hey.
- You get the boot?.
- I guess so.
Don't take it personally.
She's kinda moody.
Right.
So, you're a detective.
Investigator.
- You look for missing people?.
- That can be part ofthe job.
You usually find them?.
Depends on how long
they've been missing.
Twenty-threeyears.
My father.
Dewey Hamilton.
- Right.
- So, how would I start?.
You know, like ifhe's
moved out ofthe state?.
Sometimes people can-
Sometimes people
don't want to be found.
And ifyou do,
it can be pretty disappointing.
Ifthings are messy,
you gotta face them sooner or later.
- Areyou on the Web?.
- Wired to the eyeballs.
There are a couple ofthings
you can try.
- Glad you could make it.
- You're conscious.
Painkillers, man.
I'm flying.
They said you had an accident?.
It wasn't no accident.
It was him.
I saw the boots.
You know.
The one who sticks
his head in the sand.
Ostrich?.
Ostrich-skin boots.
Puts his head into the sand 'cause they
don't wanna see when they cut his throat.
It was vehicular homicide, man.
Dude tried to kill me
with my own car.
Paper on the table.
"Fito and Rafi. Carbonville"
They knew our dead man.
They're pretty spooked.
Butyou could try them.
They got maybe three words
of English.
Spooked by?.
The same hijo de la chingada
pushed the car on me.
Vince Esparza.
- Vince.
- Vicente.
Esparza.
I'll give you odds
he had something to do with...
this Lázaro kicking the bucket.
O'Brien.
I been tryin' to trackyou down.
SheriffSkaggs,
my friend Tony Guerra.
Shaving accident?.
You'll make me laugh
and break my ribs again.
I haven't heard a peep out ofyou,
Danny. That wasn't our agreement.
- I'm offthe case.
- Step on your own dick again?.
Used to be this guy
was a reporter...
till his mouth
got way ahead ofhis brains.
There's a lot more to this than
some illegal alien floating in a lake.
- The people who hired me-
- The peoplewho hired you fired you...
which means you're
out ofthe conversation.
- They hired me to pretend-
- That means makeyourself scarce, son.
I need to talk
toyour amigo here, alone.
Later, Tony.
You sleep with a client's sister?.
That is so unprofessional!
That's not why Raven wanted me
offthe case, is it?.
No, but he didn't like it!
He wanted me off'cause I'm getting too
close to something theywanna hush up!
That's the whole point
ofthejob, Danny...
and he doesn't
trustyou to do it!
- I don't have all the pieces, but Lázaro-
- You don't have any pieces!
He knew something, saw something,
and they set him up!
Had him killed.
Chuck Raven had you fired because
he found outyou used to be a reporter.
Okay?.
That doesn't change anything.
He called yesterday morning.
Ifyou would checkyour cell phone
once in a while, you'd know that.
That sheriff,
he's been right on my tail.
I cannot deal with your paranoia.
Take the rest ofthe week off,
come in on Monday...
and we will sit down and discuss
what's left ofyour so-called career.
My expenses so far.
Fill out a voucher.
Hilarywill take care ofyou.
Look, Danny, I'm sure
you were doing a very good job...
aside from
banging Maddy Pilager.
- Hey. She got me stoned.
- Out!
.
Sign here.
And next time
I want all the receipts.
Right.
Lupe!
Here, let me helpyou
with this.
- Thankyou.
- Howwould you like to make $ ?.
They said these two men,
Rafi and Fito...
have gone to the church.
It's not Sunday.
The day ofthe dead.
Tell 'em I came instead ofTony.
They don't trustyou.
Tell them I have their names and that
iftheywant to stay in this country-
You wouldn't do that
to them, would you?.
They don't know that, do they?.
We can go somewhere else to talk.
They sayyou have to come with them
to the ruins, to Silver City.
So, when do we get to this joint?.
This is it.
They buried the cityyears ago.
What now?.
This is where Lázaro died?.
He says Lázaro died where
they take the meat from the bones.
The slaughterhouse.
- BENagra.
- The BENagra slaughterhouse.
Lázaro was a newly arrived.
He was a very shy person.
Very afraid of everything in the north.
But especially afraid ofthe boss.
- And the jefe was?.
- Vicente Esparza.
Vincent Esparza carries a gun?.
We were the cleaning crew.
Aftermidnight,
when theystop the line...
they come in to clean the metal with
scalding hot water mixed with clorina.
There is always so much noise...
andyou can't see from the steam.
They have told Don Vicente
that thejob up above...
cleaning the machine that takes
the skin offthe cows is not safe...
that there has to be more scaffolding
or something to hold onto.
But he says that only little babies
are crying for their mamas...
and he sends whoever
he doesn't like to do it.
This day he sends Lázaro Huerta.
They told Lázaro he shouldn't
shoot the steam full pressure...
when he's turning it on.
There was nobody else i n
that part of the factory...
but these two men
and Vicente, their boss.
He asked them to put the body
in a garbage barrel...
and to clean his blood
with the blood ofthe animals.
At the endofwork, theycarried the body
out to his truck and he drove them here.
He told them he knew this place
from years ago...
when he was hired
to hide some kind ofgarbage.
They felt bad treating a man
they knew- a human being-
like he was garbage too.
They left the body
at the back of the tunnel...
and Vicente told them
that now they are part of a crime...
and if the police finds out
they are going to jail.
Ifhe doesn't kill them first.
Soyou left the body up here?.
They came back three days later
to bury him as a Christian, but-
He wasn't here?.
He was gone.
Maybe it was a miracle.
They left him where there was
water on the floor.
So when they came back
the waterwas this high.
Show me.
Come on.
All right.
Wait for me here.
Help!
Help!
Help, up there!
Mr. O'Brien!
Areyou there?.
Mr. O'Brien!
Mr. O'Brien, you got all wet!
Look atyou!
- Where are the guys?.
- They took them away.
Took them?.
La Migra come, chase those men
and take them away.
How come they didn't take you?.
Because I carry
my citizen papers always.
Guess I'll have to leave you here, Lupe.
It's okay.
How come you didn't
take the day off?.
I belong to the Iglesia Evangélica.
This?. This is the devil's work.
I'll keep that in mind.
Thanks for everything.
Be careful, Mr. O'Brien.
Hey.
You again.
Hey.
I'm sorry about last night.
I get disgusted with myself,
and I take it out on other people.
Don't worry about it.
You been swimming?.
Cave diving.
I'm sorry ifl gotyou in trouble.
The thing I'm investigating,
I got a little in over my head.
- You got fired?.
- Probation.
Sorry.
Doyou thinkyou might
call me sometime?.
Listen, Maddy-
You're scared of me, aren'tyou?.
No. I'm scared ofyour family.
Would you say
those are ostrich skin?.
The guy's boots?.
Yeah. Tony Lamas.
Excuse me.
You got a problem, my friend?.
You're Vicente Esparza.
Come on.
We gotta talk, you and me.
You're the one who's been
stirrin' up all this shit, huh?.
Askin' about tattoos,
botherin' myworkers.
Now I hear the police
are lookin' for me.
I've got nothing againstyou.
It's the people aboveyou-
the ones that had you dump
those barrels into the mine.
- They knew what happened to Lázaro-
- What the fuck is it toyou?.
You don't come down here where I live
asking me fuckin' questions!
- I'm not afteryou. It's them!
- That's right.
You don't care about me,
and I don't care aboutyou.
I don't care
ifyou live oryou die.
You see this?.
You see what this is, cabrón?
You ask me
one more fuckin' question-
Don't move!
Just freeze right there!
Put it down, Dave.
One's deader than a doornail,
and the other's unarmed.
- Put it down.
- He had his gun out.
Put it in the holster!
And then go keep that crowd
from coming back here! Go!
Jesus!
- You said it.
- He wasn't gonna shootyour deputy.
Boy's a little overtrained.
- This is Esparza?.
- Yeah.
He's got that
wanted-for-questioning...
killed-while-resisting-arrest
look about him.
They didn't clean up
the cyanide waste.
Theyjust dumped it
into an old mine.
Esparza was working
for Bentel then.
He told my guys that he'd dumped
something there before.
Only it's flooded now,
and it's flooding more every day.
Somehow Huerta's body
got swept away by it...
and pushed through the mountain into
one ofthe streams that feeds the lake.
This is sounding crazy, isn't it?.
Throw a dead body into a cave...
and three days later it comes back out
into the world all on its own?.
Sure, a lot of people'll buy that.
It's the water pressure.
The names ofthese two Mexicans
you sayyou talked to-
Come on!
You had Immigration follow us
and pick them up.
- Did I?.
- Halfthis town is illegal.
Immigration is gonna botherto
drive into the middle ofnowhere...
and just run into mywitnesses?.
Mr. Quińones and Mr. López
have been debriefed by the I NS.
According to them, theywere working
at BENagra Packing...
along with a certain Lázaro Huerta,
also an undocumented alien...
until one day he chose...
not to show up forwork.
That's the last they saw ofhim.
- Of course they're gonna say that.
- They're back on a plane in hours...
courtesy of
the United States government.
Unless, of course...
you choose to include that
crock of shit thatyou just told me...
in your official statement...
in which case, they'd be accessories
to wrongful death, at least.
Possibly murder.
They'd be fucked.
Bienjodido is the phrase,
I believe, yeah.
Slaughterhouse?.
The slaughterhouse operates
within guidelines set by the law.
All we've got is a failure
to report an accident...
and illegal burial...
which begins and ends
with Vince Esparza.
Doesn't it?.
I'll giveyou a few minutes
to think about it.
You called his name.
When you were looking for him,
you called his name.
Your buddy in the hospital
put us on the lookout.
Vehicular homicide?.
- It's the same speech every time.
- I don't have time now, Nora.
Ifl spent a few hours
reviewing his statistics...
Later.
instead ofjust listening to him go on
and on and on- Come on, Leo!
Come on!
- What's the deal?.
- Where haveyou been?.
Out reporting the news. I know
it's easier to watch it on cable, but-
Staff meeting
in minutes, people!
That means everybody!
- Then it's true.
- What?.
They'll say,
"Nobody'll be let go"
But when they bought the Sentinel,
they cut jobs the first month.
Theywho?.
What are you talking about?.
We've been sold to Gold Mine Publishing,
that Bentel owns.
These RockyMountains
that I love so much...
are part of
ournational heritage...
something we must keep safe
forfuture generations.
Don't even thi nk about it.
Whatever pathetic publicity stunt
you're hatching...
in that drug-addled brain ofyours.
- I don't work foryou anymore.
- I know.
You were dismissed...
when we discovered an incident
ofsubstance abuse on the job.
- Anything you say-
- Don't threaten me.
You are the boy
that cried wolf, O'Brien.
- It was in all the papers.
- A murderwas committed.
What?.
Murder by deregulation?. That kind of
thinking went out in the last century.
That's not the point.
The point is
that without a smoking gun...
all you've got
is another opportunity...
to fuck upyour sorry excuse
for a life even more than now.
People likeyou thinkyou've got
everything covered.
You think nobody cares enough
to fight back.
But somedayyour shit's gonna
catch up with you, and when it does-
You're a loser.
That's already been established
beyond doubt.
So just try and be a good one.
Okay?.
Don'tyou thinkyou ought to
changeyour shirt?.
- How'd you find me?.
- I'm a detective.
You said we were investigators.
I'm a detective.
You're an investigator.
And the first rule is, don't go
finding more than you're looking for.
Look, ifit weren't for Mort-
All ofhis plans,
every scheme he's ever had...
has had a jinx on it.
His wife has to support him.
He thinks he's a failure.
Ifthis Silver Citything
were to fall through-
And he's in with the Pilagers?.
Up to his neck.
Hush money?.
Severance pay.
And don't go
making trouble, Danny.
Won't do any good.
So why'd you ever hire
a basket case like me?.
Lookwho I married.
Travel expenses.
Richard Pilager cares aboutyou.
It's like he's a bad actor that doesn't
believe himself in the part. You know?.
You read these polls-
I swear, the questions must be:
Would you rather
have Dickie Pilager as governor...
or haveyour pancreas pulled out through
your nose with a rusty coat hanger?.
But still,
% prefer the coat hanger.
What's this?.
Weird.
"Silver City"
Someone left us a treasure map.
I hearyou've been bought.
- I mean, notyou personally.
- Part ofthe happy Bentel family.
There's a man named Lázaro Huerta
in that box- what's left ofhim.
So, this is your case.
- Mr. O'Brien, yes?.
- Yes.
- Seńora.
- Hello.
Ramón Contreras
from the Mexican consulate.
On behalf
ofthe aggrieved family...
I offer my sincere gratitude
foryour generosity.
I'd like to wire some money...
on top ofthe casket
and the shipping costs.
Theywon't-
Anything you could send
would be appreciated.
There are several children.
Ifyou'll excuse me-
The paperwork.
Nice to meetyou.
You haven't been sleeping.
No, not really.
I split up with Chandler.
Really?.
I was... grousing about
communications monopolies...
and he gave me his usual line...
and we got into a fight,
one thing led to another and-
Conflict ofinterests.
Many a promising merger has failed
due to a conflict ofinterest.
Right.
How doyou feel...
about us splitting up?.
Euphoric.
That's how I felt.
I should have been suicidal.
My paper's been co-opted...
I have all these people to call
and tell them they're not invited...
to the wedding in Aspen, and-
Wereyou gonna do
one ofthose ski-lift ceremonies?.
It would have been a very tasteful,
very Caucasian affair.
Ifyou changeyour mind,
I know ofa very good caterer.
Maybe we could
see each other sometime.
That'd be great.
So, you quityourjob.
Grace fired me.
So, what doyou do now?.
First I need to
repaint my living room.
I promise to respect and support
our American traditions-
I'm waiting.
our right to bear arms...
I'm still waiting.
our right to the freedoms
ofreligious worship and expression...
so fundamental to our liberty.
I promise to support a smaller,
more efficient government.
No longermust the Big Brother
ofthe social welfare system...
dictate our daily lives...
intruding, impeding, regulating...
the very air that we breathe.
What I'm talking about,
my fellow citizens...
comes down to
that precious word "freedom. "
A freedom enjoyed
by those bold individuals...
who came to a wild frontier and built
the West that we love so dearly...
those steadfast
men and women...
whose spirit
ofdaring and conquest...
inspires us to this day.
The freedom from fear
ofthose who envy our good fortune...
who scorn
our democratic institutions.
Freedom from
the cultural tyranny...
ofthe special interest groups
and the new-age demagogues...
who would seek to deny us...
the harvest
ofour God-given bounty...
under the false banner
ofenvironmental correctness.
The freedom to seek health,
happiness...
and, yes, fortune...
in this glorious
mountain state ofours.
This is the freedom I prom ise you,
my fel low citizens.
But let not a man be judged
by the promises he makes...
but by the works
he leaves behind.
America
May God bless you all.
May God thygloryfind
Till allsuccess
Be nobleness
And every gain
Divine
O beautiful
Forspacious skies
For amber waves ofgrain
Forpurple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good
With brotherhood
From sea
To
Shining
Sea