Gangs of New York Essay -- Film Analysis

Picture Manhattan in 1860, a cartridge holder before the city had been dolled up and gotten ready for the silver screen, before the trance and allure took over. Amsterdam Vallan (DiCaprio) is a puppylike Irish man that migrates to the the States at a young age. Amsterdams apologue takes derriere in Five Points District of new York, a filthy and insidious part of the city before it was deleted form history. As a young boy Vallan witnessed his fathers murder at the move over of William black or Bill the Butcher (Day-Lewis) during one of their many gang wars. As Amsterdams story progresses along side The Butcher they beat inseparable, but Amsterdam had ulterior motive. Ultimately, Amsterdam attempts to betray his new base ally in order to avenge his fathers death. diachronic accounts of events are almost always synthesized by the storyteller in the graphic symbol Gangs of spic-and-span York Martin Scorsese tells of Five Points, The Dead Rabbits Riots, and The Draft Riots, but is his fictional story accurate through history? This is the drift these narrow ways diverging to the right and left, and reeking everywhere with dirt and filth... Many of these pigs live here. Do they ever wonder why their masters walk upright sooner of going on all fours, and why they talk instead of grunting? (Dickens 61) The clownish filth described by Charles Dickens was a first hand account of the intersection of Orange Street, Cross Street, Anthony Street, and Little Water Street, bump known as Five Points New York. It became the setting for many of seventeenth century gangs, but the most prominent were the Bowery Boys and The Dead Rabbits. This infernal part of town was known for its depravity the crimes that flooded the streets, from mugging to murder. Clearly, the slums were the place for v... ...Burrows, Edwin G., and Mike Wallace. Gotham A History of New York City to 1898. New York Oxford UP, 1999. Print.Cocks, Jay, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. Gangs Of New York Final Script. Web. .Dickens, Charles, and Patricia Ingham. American Notes for General Circulation. London Penguin, 2000. Print.Ellis, Edward Robb., and Jeanyee Wong. The Epic of New York City. New York, NY Carroll & Graf, 2005. Print.RIOTING AND BLOODSHED THE FIGHT AT COW BAY THE metropolis UNDER ARMS. The New York Times. 6 July 1857. Web. .Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York Facts on File, 2001. Print.Slayton, Robert A. Empire Statesman The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith. New York Free, 2001. Print.