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.

Factual error: In the scene when Bill is throwing knives at the girl, right after he comes off the stage, the flag that drops as the band comes out has 50 stars on it.

KYoakum

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Suggested correction: The flag in the movie has 34 stars in it. Thank you for great observation.

Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, priest Vallon cuts the right side of his face with the straight razor. Later on, when Bill and Vallon are belittling each other before the brawl, there is a scar on the left side of Vallon's face.

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Suggested correction: In the first shot he was shown in the mirror.

Continuity mistake: The scene where Amsterdam is climbing on the Portuguese ship, we see that there are still four people left in the small boat and we see that Johnny is the first one on the ship, so how did the rest of the gang board the ship before Johnny and Amsterdam? They even know that the ship has been ransacked. (00:39:05)

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Suggested correction: There was no scene that shows Johnny was first one on the ship. There was a scene where he climbs before Amsterdam who was the last on the ladder, and all the gang at that moment was already onboard, because they climbed there offscreen.

Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam tries to kill the butcher and fails, the butcher straddles Amsterdam on a table and tosses a cleaver in the air. The cleaver rotates counter-clockwise so that the blade is rotating backward; however, when the cleaver lands, it is rotating clockwise so that the blade sticks into the wooden table. This would be impossible the way the cleaver is tossed into the air with a back-handed flip. (01:42:15)

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Suggested correction: It is possible, if it falls quick enough. Doesn't matter where it rotates, if it is blade down at the moment of touching the table - it will stick.

Revealing mistake: In the beginning of the Five Points battle it happens very often that people get hit badly with a sharp weapon but don't receive any wound. Watch for example in slow-motion how Bill sets out to mow down victim after victim with his cleaver. Later into the fight it becomes a lot bloodier, and sometimes the blood seems to come out of the weapon (e.g Monk's club seems to have a generous blood reservoir). (00:08:15)

NancyFelix

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Suggested correction: According to this site's rules, if you have to use slow motion to see something, it's not a valid mistake.

Sacha

Factual error: In a scene set in 1862 or 1863 Bill the Butcher says: 'An Irishman will do for a nickel what a ****** will do for a dime or a white man for a quarter'. The first nickel 5 cent piece was coined in 1866. At the time of the scene the 5 cent coin was a small silver coin called a half-dime. (01:10:00)

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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