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Gangs of New York (2002)
In Martin Scorsese's historical epic about Manhattan's
Five Points, a NY neighborhood in the mid 1800s:
- the confrontational line-up scene on snowy streets
between an Irish-Catholic immigrant gang dubbed the Dead Rabbits
(led by 'Priest' Vallon (Liam Neeson)) against the Natives - the
forces of the character of villainous leader Bill 'the Butcher'
Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis); Bill's derogatory comment about the
opposing forces: ("Is this it, Priest? The Pope's new army?
A few crusty bitches and a handful of ragtags?"); the Priest's
forces responded with a show of force among the recruits: ("Now,
now, Bill, you swore this was a battle between warriors, not a
bunch of Miss Nancys. So warriors is what I brought. The O'Connell
Guard. The Plug Uglies. The Shirt Tails. The Chichesters. The Forty
Thieves")
Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting's (Daniel Day-Lewis)
Irish-Catholic Nativist Immigrants vs. 'Priest' Vallon's (Liam
Nesson) Dead Rabbits:
The Battle of the Points
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- Bill 'the Butcher's' speech (while holding out two
knives in each hand) before commencing the bloody territorial Battle
of the Points, fought on the snowy streets of the Five Points:
("On my challenge, by the ancient laws of combat, we have
met at this chosen ground to settle for good and all, who holds
sway over the Five Points: Us Natives, born right-wise to this
fine land or the foreign hordes defiling it. By the ancient laws
of combat, I accept the challenge of the so-called Natives. You
plague our people at every turn. But from this day out, you shall
plague us no more.")
- the death of Vallon on the bloody battlefield, stabbed
in the abdomen by Bill - witnessed by his young son Amsterdam (Leonardo
di Caprio as adult), who returned 16 years later to seek revenge
for the death of his father by ingratiating himself with Bill the
Butcher
- the scene of newly-arrived poor immigrants on the
docks being conscripted to fight the Civil War, as coffins were being
stacked up
- Bill the Butcher's monologue (with a tattered US flag
draped over his shoulder) about how violence and the "spectacle
of fearsome acts" had allowed him to maintain his powerful grip:
("I'm 47. Forty-seven years old. You know how I stayed alive
this long? All these years? Fear. The spectacle of fearsome acts.
Somebody steals from me, I cut off his hands. He offends me, I cut
out his tongue. He rises against me, I cut off his head, stick it
on a pike and raise it high up so all in the streets can see. That's
what preserves the order of things. Fear")
- Bill's continuing monologue about knowing Amsterdam's
father, claiming that his enemy Vallon was worthy of respect - because
on one occasion, the Priest had beaten Bill, but let him survive
in shame - to fight again with greater resolve: ("I killed the
last honorable man 15 years ago....The Priest and me, we lived by
the same principles. It was only faith divided us. (pointing to a
scar) He give me this, you know. That was the finest beating I ever
took. My face was pulp, my guts was pierced and my ribs was all mashed
up. And when he came to finish me, I couldn't look him in the eye.
He spared me because he wanted me to live in shame. This was a great
man. A great man. So I cut out the eye that looked away. Sent it
to him wrapped in blue paper. I would have cut 'em both out if I
could have fought him blind. Then I rose back up again with a full
heart and buried him in his own blood")
- the scene of Amsterdam attempting to assassinate Bill
with a knife, with Bill's counter-attack, striking Amsterdam in the
abdomen and then acknowledging that he knew Amsterdam was
"the son of Priest Vallon" - and then beating him up and
terrorizing him in front of a cheering crowd and letting him live ("marked
with shame - a freak worthy of Barnum's Muzeum of Wonders") -
after burning his cheek with a hot blade: ("I want yous all to
meet the son of Priest Vallon. I took him under my wing and see how
I'm repaid?...Saves my life one day, so he can kill me the next like
a sneak-thief, instead of fightin' like a man. A base defiler, unworthy
of a noble name.... We need to tenderize this meat a little bit. All
right, let's kiss good night to that pretty young face of yours. What'll
it be, then? Rib or chop? Loin or shank?...He ain't earned a death.
He ain't earned a death at my hands. No. He'll walk amongst you marked
with shame - a freak worthy of Barnum's Museum of Wonders")
- the climactic face-to-face confrontation between Bill
and Amsterdam, interrupted by the quelling of draft riots by cannon
fire from Union Army ships, and Bill's wound in the abdomen from
cannon shrapnel ("Thank God. I die a true American"), and
Amsterdam's further stabbing of Bill to end his life
- the astonishing "time passage" finale of
the Battery Park's development from 1863 to pre-9/11 New York City
- with Amsterdam's concluding voice-over: ("It was four days
and nights before the worst of the mob was finally put down. We never
knew how many New Yorkers died that week before the city was finally
delivered. My father told me we was all born of blood and tribulation.
And so then too was our great city. But for those of us what lived
and died in them furious days, it was like everything we knew was
mightily swept away. And no matter what they did to build the city
up again, for the rest of time, it would be like no one even knew
we was ever here")
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Amsterdam
(Leonardo di Caprio)
Civil War Coffins Stacked on Dock
The Butcher's Monologue About Fear
Assassination Attempt
Amsterdam's Fight to the Death with Bill
Graves of Cutting and 'Priest' Side by Side
Time Passage View of Battery Park to Present-Day New York
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