Gangs of New York

Amsterdam gets to be best friends with The Butcher who had earlier killed Amsterdam's father, until The Butcher realises Amsterdam is the Priest's son. There is then a big riot between the rival sides with Amsterdam leading his father's gang. Amsterdam kills The Butcher, who is then buried next to The Priest (Amsterdam's father), because Amsterdam knew of the respect that the Butcher had for The Priest.

turbo

Continuity mistake: After Bill the Butcher stabs and beats Amsterdam's face badly (and brands him with a hot knife) notice how as time passes the wounds heal then reappear in varying degrees of severity. This is particularly true with the branding, which is almost absent by the end.

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

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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.

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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.

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