History YMMV / GangsOfNewYork

** And of course the few folk songs thrown in, "My friend Hattie, New York Girls" and especially "Paddy's Lamentation" which plays over the EpicTrackingShot showing immigrant arriving and force-enlisted into the army.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The nonfiction book was a famous bestseller in its day and indeed in its year of publication(in the 1920s) created a wave of interest in what was, even then, a bygone era and was highly regarded by the likes of Creator/JorgeLuisBorges. Scorsese had wanted to adapt it since the 1970s.

* MagnificentBastard: Bill the Butcher. Particularly remarkable because Bill does not display the flawless [[{{The Chessmaster}} complex planning]] or [[ManipulativeBastard subtle manipulation]] that are normally associated with magnificent bastards. In fact, it is quite clear that he knows he's fighting a losing battle, and will go down fighting anyway for his principles, but is also a hypocrite with some of those same principles. Despite these significant failings, he is such an electrifyingly charismatic character that he manages to inspire awe rather than disgust. All kudos to Daniel Day-Lewis for managing to pull this off so gloriously.

* LawfulNeutral: Bill "The Butcher" Cutting is definitely this. He's a community leader who cares deeply for his city, country and his American countrymen. He is also a racist, ruthless killer who tries to manipulate the law to his own advantage wherever possible, forging political alliances that benefit him, but he has limits imposed by his principles of honour which he will not bend or stretch at any price.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Happy Jack, Monk McGinn, and Hellcat Maggie. The last one all the more impressive for actually being [[RealityIsUnrealistic a real]] [[AluminumChristmasTrees person.]]

* SoOkayItsAverage: While on its own it is considered a good movie, this is usually considered to be lesser Scorsese. Usually, mind you. However, the movie has grown in reputation since. It also has many a BigNameFan like Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser.

* AwardSnub: Nominated for 10 UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, won ''none''.
** Out of the 5 actors nominated for the Best Actor Oscar that year, Creator/DanielDayLewis was the one who received the most prior awards for his performance, winning ''several'' awards (including the BAFTA and the SAG). Coming into Oscar night, Day-Lewis was the likely favorite, and yet he didn't win.(Though as he lost to Creator/AdrienBrody in ''Film/ThePianist'', and that Day-Lewis [[AwardCategoryFraud wasn't technically the lead actor]], the loss is justified.)

** The whole anachronistic soundtrack is amazing for the blend of different music. Creator/PeterGabriel's "Signal to Noise" scores the opening fight, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuzmTfj4cJA "Vows" by Brian Dunning]] which plays over the finale. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDar1ymGbjg "Shimmy She Wobble"]], by Othar Turner's Fife and Drum Blues which is the general fight music, there's also "Dark Moon, High Tide" by the Afro-Celt Sound System.

* EvilIsCool: Bill Cutting is a vicious, xenophobic warlord and murderer. He's also cuttingly funny, [[MagnificentBastard twistedly ingenious]], ''just'' [[NobleDemon noble]] [[WorthyOpponent enough]] for the audience not to hate him, and oozes charisma thanks to Daniel Day-Lewis' magnificent acting. The former part doesn't erase the latter, in fact, if anything, it ''adds'' to his appeal.

** Out of the 5 actors nominated for the Best Actor Oscar that year, Creator/DanielDayLewis was the one who received the most prior awards for his performance, winning ''several'' awards (including the BAFTA and the SAG). Coming into Oscar night, Day-Lewis was the likely favorite, and yet he didn't win.(Though as he lost to Creator/AdrienBrody in ''Film/ThePianist'', the loss is justified.)

* AwesomeEgo: There are two occasions when Bill responds to a cheering crowd with a dismissive, even bored, royal wave. Rather than coming off as pretentious or pompous, his arrogance comes across as so totally justified that the moments appear on the SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome page.

* EvilIsCool: It's difficult to find a fan of this movie who isn't ''[[RootingForTheEmpire rooting for]]'' Bill, or at least wished the movie focused more on him and Priest Vallon than Amsterdam. Nowadays, Leonard DiCaprio is one of the most well-respected actors in the world...and yet Daniel Day-Lewis acts ''circles'' around him, and Amsterdam, in this movie.

* HarsherInHindsight: A lot of the anti-immigrant viewpoints of Bill's gang and the Know-Nothing Party are eerily similar to anti-immigration rhetoric in America today. Creator/MartinScorsese himself noted this [[https://www.channel4.com/news/full-martin-scorsese-interview-on-trump-and-the-pope in an interview]] after Creator/DonaldTrump won the 2016 election:
--> '''Creator/MartinScorsese''': ''Almost like Film/GangsOfNewYork, with Bill the Butcher becoming President...he's a nativist.''

** Out of the 5 actors nominated for the Best Actor Oscar that year, Daniel Day-Lewis was the one who received the most prior awards for his performance, winning ''several'' awards (including the BAFTA and the SAG). Coming into Oscar night, Day-Lewis was the likely favorite, and yet he didn't win.(Though as he lost to Creator/AdrienBrody in ''Film/ThePianist'', the loss is justified.)

* HarsherInHindsight: A lot of the anti-immigrant viewpoints of Bill's gang and the Know-Nothing Party are eerily similar to anti-immigration rhetoric in America today. Martin Scorsese himself noted this [[https://www.channel4.com/news/full-martin-scorsese-interview-on-trump-and-the-pope in an interview]] after Creator/DonaldTrump won the 2016 election:

* HilariousInHindsight: Daniel Day-Lewis played UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in ''Film/{{Lincoln}}''. Extremely hilarious when you think about Bill the Butcher shouting "Down with the Union!" during a performance of ''[[UncleTomsCabin Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' and throwing a knife through a picture of Lincoln earlier in the film. Made even funnier with the fact Day-Lewis was nominated for Best Actor Oscars for both roles and won with Lincoln instead of Gangs.

* {{Narm}}: Amsterdam's narration that the New York of his time was more like "a furnace where a city might someday be forged" comes off as an incredibly contrived and cheesy bit of exposition.

** Daniel Day-Lewis's entire performance as Bill the Butcher is unintentionally funny based just on the sheer absurdity of his over the top accent and behavior. Of course for some that's just NarmCharm.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The nonfiction book was a famous bestseller in its day and indeed in its year of publication(in the 1920s) created a wave of interest in what was, even then, a bygone era and was highly regarded by the likes of JorgeLuisBorges. Scorsese had wanted to adapt it since the 1970s.

** One of the nominations was for "Best Original Song" for "The Hands That Built America." It lost to [[Film/8Mile "Lose Yourself,"]] the first hip-hop song to be honored with the award. Hardly a snub.

* AdaptationDisplacement: There's a book?
** The nonfiction book was a famous bestseller in its day and indeed in its year of publication(in the 1920s) created a wave of interest in what was, even then, a bygone era and was highly regarded by the likes of JorgeLuisBorges. Scorsese had wanted to adapt it since the 1970s.

* HarsherInHindsight: A lot of the anti-immigrant viewpoints of Bill's gang and the Know-Nothing Party are eerily similar to anti-immigration rhetoric in America today.

* HilariousInHindsight: Daniel Day-Lewis played Abraham Lincoln in ''Film/{{Lincoln}}''. Extremely hilarious when you think about Bill the Butcher shouting "Down with the Union!" during a performance of ''[[UncleTomsCabin Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' and throwing a knife through a picture of Lincoln earlier in the film. Made even funnier with the fact Day-Lewis was nominated for Best Actor Oscars for both roles and won with Lincoln instead of Gangs.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Though the scene itself is climactic to all hell, Bill and Amsterdam trade a little more than a few swipes, then get thrown on their asses by cannon fire. It's ultimately a piece of rebar to the gut that does Bill in, with Amsterdam helping along.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Bill Cutting. Not that anyone else in the movie is a good person, but for some reason Bill gets lionized above others due to his {{Badass}} factor.

** The plot of the movie could easily be described as ''Film/KillBill''.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Amsterdam looks out across the lake where there are people dancing in front of a fire. The scene shifts immediately after. [[FlatWhat What?]]
* [[DracoInLeatherPants Draco In A]] [[NiceHat Pimping Top-Hat]]: Bill Cutting. Not that anyone else in the movie is a good person, but for some reason Bill gets lionized above others due to his {{Badass}} factor.

** In the fight at the beginning of the film, Hell-cat Maggie somehow manages to leap high enough into the air that she can swoop down on an unsuspecting enemy and bite his ear off. One thinks of BatmanArkhamAsylum.

* SpiritualAntithesis: To Literature/TheAgeOfInnocence, the other Old New York Scorsese-Daniel Day-Lewis movie, which is set 10 years later.

** The whole anachronistic soundtrack is amazing for the blend of differnet music. Creator/PeterGabriel's "Signal to Noise" scores the opening fight, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuzmTfj4cJA "Vows" by Brian Dunning]] which plays over the finale. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDar1ymGbjg "Shimmy She Wobble"]], by Othar Turner's Fife and Drum Blues which is the general fight music, there's also "Dark Moon, High Tide" by the Afro-Celt Sound System.

* AwesomeMusic: Music/U2's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkajMup_Nqg The Hands That Built America]]".