Gangs of New York

Corrected entry: When Monk's funeral procession is going down the street, the dog on Bill's porch appears to be a Doberman. The Doberman did not exist until the 1890s. Any importation from Germany to the US was not until the early 1900s. (02:11:30)

Correction: The dog in that scene is not a Doberman but a Beauceron, an ancient French breed of herding dog from which Dobermans were bred.

Corrected entry: In the scene of Bill the Butcher lying in bed with the naked women, one woman has a noticeable tan line from a bikini - a bit early for the bikini... (01:21:50)

Correction: That isn't a tan line - she is slightly paler from the waist down - it covers her legs to the middle of her calves. She's been out topless wearing a petticoat, something a prostitute would be likely to do in those days.

Corrected entry: In the scene where the little dog fights the rats it's supposed to kill 25 in three minutes. When the bag with the rats is opened something like 10 rats fall on the ground. (00:33:55)

NancyFelix

Correction: This is simple editing similar to not watching the entirety of a 3-hour car ride. The viewer does not need to see the multiple bags of rats dropped into the pit to get the desired effect.

Finally3

Corrected entry: Before Jenny and Amsterdam make love she reveals a scar that, according to her, was the result of a baby taken out. The position of the scar would have been good for removing the left lung, but a bit far away from the uterus. (01:05:05)

NancyFelix

Correction: A scar placed correctly for the "removal of her left lung" would transect Jenny's breast or her sternum, and this does neither. It is in the centre of her abdomen, showing the results of a sloppily performed hysterectomy.

Corrected entry: Right before the last battle scene, when Bill and Amsterdam are both preparing for battle, Amsterdam recites a couple of his words backwards during his prayer.

KYoakum

Correction: It's not exactly a mistake for someone nervously going into a gang fight to flub some words in a prayer.

LorgSkyegon

Corrected entry: When the four scapegoats are hanged you see two shots of people watching them fall, following them with their eyes on their way down: first the wife of one of the condemned scapegoats, then Bill's followers. The funny thing is that in the second group, only Amsterdam seems to look at the executed, while McGloin and the others keep staring into empty space where the hanged had been before they fell. (00:58:55)

NancyFelix

Correction: McGloin and the gang are looking at the right place, it is Amsterdam who is simply looking down in disgust. You can see in the following shot that Amsterdam looks back up like everybody else for a split second.

Corrected entry: In the movie, Amsterdam says that the New York City Draft Riots lasted for four days. It really lasted only three days.

Correction: They ran for four days. July 13-16, 1863. 13, 14, 15 and 16, four days.

Corrected entry: Late in the film when Bill is standing outside the barber shop staring down Monk, the Irish man running for Sheriff, Monk holds his club in his right hand with the leather strap around his fist. A quick cut to Bill's straight face, and then they show Monk holding the club in his left hand with no strap visible. (02:08:30)

Correction: First of all there is enough time between shots for Monk to switch the club to his left hand. Second of all the strap isn't visible when the club is in his left hand, because he is now gripping the other end of the club and the end with the strap is not visible in the shot.

Andreas[DK]

Corrected entry: Near the end, when they are reading off the telegraph messages, one message reports an ironclad lying off the city, ready to act. But the ship we see firing into the city is a wooden ship, not an ironclad. (02:23:25)

Correction: Perhaps there are TWO ships out there?

Corrected entry: At the very beginning of the theater scene, we see an actor's face close up who is dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Look closely at the right side of his beard. It's a false beard because you can see a gap between it and his skin where the beard has lost its grip on his cheek.

Correction: It's a theater scene. The beard is supposed to be fake. It's a make-up mistake in the play, but not in the film itself.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Corrected entry: At the beginning, when the two gangs meet for a fight, there is snow on the ground - indicating that it is winter. But there is no condensation vapour coming from the actors as they speak.

Correction: "Breath-steam" is dependent on the lungs adding enough heat and moisture to the air during a single breath. The longer you are outside in the cold, the cooler and dryer the inside of your lungs are and eventually the steam stops. The atmospheric conditions also are a factor (humidity/dew-point) so that sometimes you don't get any effect at all even if it is quite cold.

Myridon

Corrected entry: Amsterdam's accent changes frequently through the movie from American to Irish.

Correction: It's supposed to - he's lived in the house of reform for 15-16 years, so his accent is going to be very inconsistant. This is confirmed on the commentary on the DVD.

Corrected entry: In the first big fight scene (when Amsterdam was a young boy), the conflict is shown in great detail. Viewers can see the deaths of hundreds of people, most of them occurring in the center of the brawl. However, when the camera pans out at the end of the scene, there are only a few bodies scattered around, and the majority of them are on the edges of where the fight occured. (00:14:05)

Correction: The people in the middle of the brawl are already being wheeled away in carts or wagons, leaving only two dozen or so bodies on the outskirts.

Corrected entry: When Amsterdam sees the man who told Bill who he was, he walks up to him with his hands in his pockets. Camera angle changes and his hands are now at his side.

MCKD

Correction: The first time Amsterdam and Johnny meet one-on-one after the betrayal Amsterdam has his hands in his pockets, then takes them out and reaches for a beam. There's nothing wrong with this scene.

NancyFelix

Corrected entry: When Amsterdam is fighting with the police officer, the policeman is seen with his gun in his hand and he fires it as it's pointed straight up. The camera angle changes and the policeman now has his hands around his neck and the gun is nowhere to be seen. (01:53:25)

MCKD

Correction: Mulraney visibly dropped the gun.

NancyFelix

Corrected entry: When Bill calls Jenny up to the stage, Amsterdam stands up and reaches over to help her up. Camera angle changes and he is seen standing up again.

MCKD

Correction: He is not getting up in the second shot but just straightening a little.

NancyFelix

Corrected entry: When Bill is talking to Amsterdam about fear being the reason he has lived as long as he has, the camera cuts to Amsterdam and you can hear an audio clip that was added after the scene was shot.

MCKD

Correction: I have listened to the scene several times and I couldn't hear anything strange.

NancyFelix

Corrected entry: When Bill thanks Amsterdam he kisses his own hand and lays it on Amsterdam's head. Camera angle changes and his hand is now on his forehead.

MCKD

Correction: There's a huge bunch of hair hanging over Amsterdam's forehead that, in the first shot, may give the false impression that Bill lays his hand on top of Amsterdam's head. If there's a difference it may be an inch or less.

NancyFelix

Corrected entry: In the scene where Amsterdam has slept with Jenny and Bill the Butcher comes into the room, Amsterdam makes a point of covering Jennys shoulder with the bed cover. When Bill has left the room the cover is under Jennys arm even though she hasn't stirred at all.

Correction: Jenny's arm is over the bed covers during the entire scene. Amsterdaam just pulls part of the covers higher up her shoulder to cover her up bit more, but because he is moving about on the bed, the covers move back down again during the rest of the scene.

mandy gasson

Corrected entry: The young Amsterdam had very crooked teeth. Leo DiCaprio has much better teeth. I don't think they had braces back then, especially not in asylums.

Correction: At the time Amsterdam was very young and naturally had a bit crooked teeth of a young boy which naturally changed the shape when he grew up without any braces.

Factual error: In one scene where Bill is in the Mayor's office, the mayor is sitting behind his desk and holding a bunch of papers, and on the upper right hand corner of the papers is a paper clip. Paperclips were not invented until 1899. (00:21:15)

More mistakes in Gangs of New York

Boss Tweed: The appearance of law must be upheld, especially when it's being broken.

More quotes from Gangs of New York

Trivia: At the end of the film you see two gravestones, "Priest" Vallon and William Cutting. Behind them is a river, with a view of lower Manhattan after that. You see a bridge being built, and the city growing and changing. The two men had to have been buried in Brooklyn, rather than Manhattan for this view.

More trivia for Gangs of New York

Question: Can someone please explain to me why the audience and Amsterdam are supposed to hate Butcher so much and think he's a loathesome person? He killed Vallon during a fight, fair and square, and was nothing but respectful to his dead enemy. He almost seemed to have regretted killing Vallon. He didn't act like a worse scum than anyone else until quite a while into the film.

Answer: Well, rather obviously, Amsterdam hates him because he killed his father. I mean, wouldn't you? It hardly matters that the fight was fair and that Bill showed respect about it, Amsterdam's not exactly likely to turn round, say "oh, that's alright then" and walk away. William Cutting (or William Poole, as he was in reality) was a ruthless, vicious man, who pretty much stopped at nothing to cement his control of the area. Whether he was actually worse than many of the others is questionable, but the film is based on Amsterdam's view of things - in that view, Bill is the enemy and we're supposed to see him as such.

Tailkinker

Answer: Because he's very racist. That's why the audience hates him. He's very racist.

Answer: Because he was a racist? Secondarily while others might have acted that badly in his situation he was the one with the power and therefore the one holding a city hostage.

More questions & answers from Gangs of New York

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