Line #3 YMMV/GangsOfNewYork


1	----
2	* AdaptationDisplacement: The nonfiction book was a famous bestseller in its day and indeed in its year of publication (1928) 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. The book has later been criticized for embellishing (part of the reason the subtitle is "an ''informal'' history of the underworld".)
3	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Bill's actions as he chooses how to handle TheReveal concerning Amsterdam's true identity are much given to this. He begins with his brand of savage, sophisticated anger during the brutal rendition of "The Butcher's Apprentice", then composes himself before offering up a heartfelt toast to 'Priest' Vallon, honouring Amsterdam's father with deep respect after nearly killing his girlfriend. The entire scene could be interpreted as Bill struggling how to handle the news that his favoured protege -- a young man like a son to him -- is planning to put him in the ground, taking out his feelings of betrayal on Jen but ultimately [[SecretTestOfCharacter giving Amsterdam a chance to choose whether or not to make his move]].
4	* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
5	** "The Butcher" is shown working, indeed, as a butcher. By the time this scene comes out he has been well established as a ruthless murderer and crime lord, increasing the surprise.
6	** TruthInTelevision applied to the historical "Bill the Butcher", whose history the film otherwise takes liberties with. (One of his grievances was that Tammany was handing out most of the butchers' licenses to Irish.)
7	** This can apply to a number of things in the movie; modern audiences can be shocked and appalled by how New York really was in the 1860's, looking at modern New York now it's almost unbelievable. And yet the film, though taking a few creative liberties, is largely accurate.
8	** Hellcat Maggie is such a bizarre character that she ''has'' to be a creation of the movie? Nope. She was a real person, and she really did have [[RealityIsUnrealistic her teeth and nails sharpened to use as weapons.]]
9	* 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 [[spoiler:a piece of rebar to the gut]] that does Bill in, with Amsterdam helping along.
10	* AwardSnub:
11	** Out of the ten UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s that ''Gangs of New York'' was nominated for, it won none of them. This makes it one of only five movies to get a double-digit number of nominations without a win.[[note]]The other four movies are ''Film/{{The Color Purple\|1985}}'' and ''Film/{{The Turning Point\|1977}}'', both of which got eleven Academy Award nominations and won zero, and ''Film/AmericanHustle'' and Creator/MartinScorsese's later film ''Film/TheIrishman'', both of which also got ten nominations but no wins.[[/note]]
12	** Out of the five 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.)
13	** Averted with the nomination for "Best Original Song": "The Hands That Built America" lost to [[Film/EightMile "Lose Yourself,"]] the first hip-hop song to be honored with the award, which is hardly a snub.
14	* 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. Excellently summed up in his formal introduction to Amsterdam:
15	-->'''Bill:''' What is your name?
16	-->'''Amsterdam:''' Amsterdam, sir.
17	-->'''Bill:''' Amsterdam? I'm New York.
18	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/{{U2}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkajMup_Nqg The Hands That Built America]]".
19	** The whole anachronistic soundtrack is amazing for the blend of different music. Music/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.
20	** And of course the few folk songs thrown in, "[[BawdySong 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.
21	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
22	** Amsterdam looks out across the lake where there are people dancing in front of a fire. The scene shifts immediately after. What?
23	** Fairly certain this is to show where he gets the idea that he presents to Bill in the next scene when the police break up a boxing match; the dancers are black people who likely couldn't do their dance in the city, ergo the solution is to hold the boxing match outside the city limits as it's only illegal inside the city.
24	* 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.
25	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Happy Jack, Monk [=McGinn=], and Hellcat Maggie. The last two being all the more impressive for actually being [[RealityIsUnrealistic real]] [[AluminumChristmasTrees persons.]]
26	* EvilIsCool: Bill Cutting is a vicious, xenophobic warlord and murderer. He's also cuttingly funny, 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. He has an ''American Eagle patterned glass eye'' for crying out loud, how could you not admire that?
27	* HilariousInHindsight:
28	** Creator/DanielDayLewis played UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in ''Film/{{Lincoln}}''. Extremely hilarious when you think about Bill the Butcher shouting "Down with the Union!" during a performance of ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'' 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.
29	** Also, Bill's rival in this movie was played by Creator/LiamNeeson, who not only was the original choice for the role of Lincoln, but gave a notorious TakeThat against Day-Lewis and his [[MethodActing Method Actor]] style in an interview, claiming that he could rely on his own acting talent for a role and didn't need to "live like the part" the way Day-Lewis is famous for.
30	** Referring to Amsterdam as a "[[WesternAnimation/IceAge scrat]]".
31	* MemeticMutation: The shot of Bill the Butcher asking "What in Heaven's name are you talking about?" is a widely used meme in Russian-speaking parts of the internet.
32	* MisaimedFandom: Bill's stylish [[EvilIsCool awesomeness]] aside, check the comments section of any clip from the movie in which he's featured and you'll find a rather depressingly high number of commenters enthusiastically agreeing with his [[DeliberateValuesDissonance views]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain on immigration]] (and doing so [[PoesLaw in complete seriousness]]).
33	* {{Narm}}:
34	** 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.
35	** Also [=McGloin=]'s somewhat ridiculous declaration of racism: "THERE'LL BE NO NIG-NOGGERY HERE! NONE!"
36	** 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 ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''.
37	** Creator/DanielDayLewis'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.
38	* RomanticPlotTumour: See HighHeelFaceTurn in the main section for how unjustified Jenny's turn against Bill is.
39	* TheScrappy: Jenny, as well as Creator/CameronDiaz's performance, is generally regarded to be the worst bit of the film.
40	* SoOkayItsAverage: While on its own it is considered a good movie, this is usually considered to be one of Martin Scorsese's weaker works. Usually, mind you. However, the movie has [[VindicatedByHistory grown in reputation since]].
41	* SpecialEffectFailure: The initial winter scene at the Five Points shows a large grove of trees just behind the house that the natives gang emerge from. After the battle's end, the camera pans out to a CG shot of Manhatten island, and no trees are to be seen anywhere.
42	%%* TearJerker: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-8Lu7MRjQs The ending.]]
43	%%-->"In the end, they put candles on the bodies, so's their friends -- if they had any -- could know them in the dark. The city did this free of charge. 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 once told me we was all born of blood and tribulation. So then, too, was our great city. But for those of us who had 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 this city back up again -- for the rest of time -- it would be like nobody even knew we was ever here."
44	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: We are supposed to feel sorry for what happens to [[spoiler: Johnny]], except for the fact that in general, he was a backstabbing little weasel; Amsterdam's entire plan would have worked if he didn't tip off Bill, all over the fact that he was jealous that Amsterdam got with a woman who had ''absolutely no interest in him''.
45	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The opening features a tenement that would normally be CGI, even in 2002. Nope, that was a ''real'' elaborate stage set.

Context YMMV / GangsOfNewYork