Actors - Gangs of New York

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Gangs of New York

	Actors - Gangs of New York

__NOEDITSECTION__

Gangs of New York is a 2002 film made by the studio Miramax, set in the middle 19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan. The film is loosely inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 book The Gangs Of New York.

Gangs of New York is about the conflict between the "native" criminal underworld associated with the Know-Nothings and the immigrant gangs controlled by Tammany Hall. Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) is a young Irish-American who gains the trust of William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Day-Lewis), leader of the Nativist gangs. The character of Cutting is based on Bill 'The Butcher' Poole, a real-life leader of the Bowery Boys gang who is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

The films opens in 1846, but most of the action takes place in the early 1860s, when the two principal controversies in New York were the great wave of Irish immigration to the city and the federal government's prosecution of the American Civil War. The story follows the careers of Amsterdam and Cutting as they rise from crime bosses to political kingmakers during the reign of Boss Tweed (Broadbent), and culminates with a confrontation between them that coincides with the New York Draft Riots of 1863.

Plot Synopsis

A Father Falls

The film opens in 1846 in Lower Manhattan, specifically the "Five Points" district (now the area near Two Bridges). A territorial war has been raging for years between gang members known as "natives" and those of the immigrants. The natives are led by a vicious sociopath, William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting, also a Protestant, who possesses an open hatred of immigrants. The leader of the immigrant Irish, the "Dead Rabbits," is Priest Vallon, a Catholic, who has a young son, Amsterdam. The battle that breaks out in Paradise Square is horrific and bloody and during the combat, Bill kills Priest Vallon and Amsterdam is a witness. Cutting declares that the Dead Rabbits will exist no longer and that Vallon's body will be buried whole instead of being mutilated for souvenirs. Amsterdam, seizing the knife used to kill his father, races off and buries it. He is found and taken to the orphanage at Hellgate.

Amsterdam Returns

The story picks up about 15 years later when Amsterdam leaves Hellgate a grown man. (He also tosses the Bible given to him in the river.) He returns to the Five Points and almost immediately begins to plot his revenge against Bill. He reunites with an old friend, Johnny, who introduces him to Bill the Butcher. Johnny's small group also steals and loot for Bill and Amsterdam quickly becomes Bill's right-hand man.

The Political Climate of Old New York

In voiceover, Amsterdam also informs the viewer that the current political climate is about to explode: arriving immigrants are taken immediately from the boats and drafted into the Union Army. Anyone who has the wavier fee of $300 can buy their way out of service. Additionally, Tammany Hall, a local political interest, and its opponents are fighting for control of the city.

Amsterdam also meets a young lady, Jenny Everdeane, who is an expert pickpocket and grifter who preys upon Manhattan's upper class by pretending to be a maid. Shortly after meeting her, Amsterdam discovers that she has stolen his pendant of St. Michael, given to him by his father before his death. He stalks her to the Upper East side and forces her to return it. It is apparent in the scene that he is strongly attracted to Jenny.

Gaining a Villain's Trust

Amsterdam gradually gains the confidence of Bill, who becomes his mentor. They plot to disrupt the candidacy of Boss Tweed, a corrupt politician who heads the equally corrupt Tammany Hall. His influence is spread throughout Lower Manhattan from boxing matches to sanitation services and fire control. Amsterdam also finds out that each year on the anniversary of the Five Points battle that Bill leads the city in saluting the victory of his gang over the Dead Rabbits. It is during this ceremony that Amsterdam plans to kill the Butcher in front of the whole city.

During a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin an assassin shoots Bill but fails to kill him. Amsterdam's relationship with Bill is strengthened by the incident; he warns Bill of the assassin. However, Amsterdam still feels guilty that he warned Bill of the shooter in order that he keep Bill alive to fulfill his plot of vengeance. Both he and Bill retire to a brothel and Amsterdam finds an empty room for himself and Jenny Deane. He wakes up sometime later and finds Bill sitting in a rocking chair, draped in a tattered American flag. Bill speaks of the downfall of civilization and how he has maintained his power over the years through the "spectacle of fearsome acts."

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Gangs of New York ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Gangs of New York; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.