Gangs of New York (2002)

In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writers:

Jay Cocks (story), Jay Cocks (screenplay)

Stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis

Nominated for 10 Oscars. Another 50 wins & 124 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Amsterdam Vallon
Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting
Cameron Diaz	...	Jenny Everdeane
Jim Broadbent	...	Boss Tweed
John C. Reilly	...	Happy Jack
Henry Thomas	...	Johnny Sirocco
Liam Neeson	...	'Priest' Vallon
Brendan Gleeson	...	Walter 'Monk' McGinn
Gary Lewis	...	McGloin
Stephen Graham	...	Shang
Eddie Marsan	...	Killoran
Alec McCowen	...	Reverend Raleigh (as Alec Mccowen)
David Hemmings	...	Mr. Schermerhorn
Lawrence Gilliard Jr.	...	Jimmy Spoils (as Larry Gilliard Jr.)
Cara Seymour	...	Hell-Cat Maggie

Storyline

In the god-forsaken district of early-1860's Lower Manhattan known as the Five Points, the vicious Nativist, Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, is the supreme overlord of an area riddled with crime, prostitution, theft and murder, as the American Civil War still rages on. Sixteen whole years after the brutal murder of his father from Bill's blood-stained hands, an orphaned Irish-American, Amsterdam Vallon, returns to this melting pot of corruption to avenge his untimely death; however, a lot has changed since then. Who can remember the once innocent boy and now a young man bent on revenge, who works his way up to the hierarchy of Five Points? Will Amsterdam ever taste the dangerous but sweet fruit of retribution?

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Plot Keywords:

gangster | new york city | butcher | immigrant | title at the end | 

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Taglines:

America Was Born In The Streets.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for intense strong violence, sexuality/nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English Irish Chinese Latin

Release Date:

20 December 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gangs of New York

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,100,000, 22 December 2002

Gross USA:

$77,812,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$193,772,504

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Initial Entertainment Group (IEG), Alberto Grimaldi Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

167 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was conceived in 1978 and intended to be produced in 1980 or 1981. It was shelved after the box-office failure of Heaven's Gate (1980) made studios wary of expensive, ambitious historical dramas.

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Goofs

In the beginning of the film, Priest cuts his face with a razor. The cut moves from the right side to the left.

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Quotes

Bill: It's Election Day.

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Crazy Credits

Miramax Films and Touchstone Pictures logos are much different and larger than the normal logos and evoke a 1930s black and white style.

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Alternate Versions

Scorsese's original cut of the film was 216 minutes (3 hours & 36 minutes) long.

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Connections

Featured in Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Episode #10.51 (2002)

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Soundtracks

Drummer's Reel
(2001)
Written by Johnny Kalsi
Performed by The Dhol Foundation
Courtesy of Shakti Records

User Reviews

The Blood Stays on the Knife

"Gangs of New York" takes us back to a time when America was a young country and New York was divided. Those who felt they were "native" Americans did not want immigrants to enter their great country, spawning hatred between groups all over the city where many of them landed. In the story we see how much of the town is run by one man, with William Cutting ("Bill the Butcher," played marvelously by Daniel Day-Lewis) being the most feared and well-respected man of the "five Points."

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Amsterdam Vallon, who as a boy watched Bill the Butcher kill his father in one of the Points' great battles. Now a grown man, he returns to the Points to find Bill pretty much running the show. He gets on Bill's good side and eventually becomes his number one man, all the while still plotting for his father's revenge.

While there is a lot of gratuitous violence and gore, the film does an excellent job portraying life as it was in New York. You can be sucked in to the time of the movie, and even though the setting is much before our time you don't need a textbook to understand how things were run and what life was like.

I've never been a big DiCaprio fan, but his effort here (along with his performance from "Catch Me If You Can") have made my opinion start to waver a little. He is good as Amsterdam, and believable in his actions and expressions. Daniel Day-Lewis is simply phenomenal as Bill the Butcher and really should have won the Best Actor Oscar. Overall, I feel this was the best film of 2002 and really was robbed at the Academy Awards.

8 out of 10.