Continuity mistake: The level in the Butcher's drink changes from shot to shot during the celebration of the defeat of the Dead Rabbits. (01:40:25)
Continuity mistake: When we see young Amsterdam run off with the knife that was used to stab Priest Vallon, he puts the knife into a little cubby hole in the floor. 16 years go by and we see Amsterdam as an adult return to the same cubby hole, but this time when he pulls out the knife it is wrapped in some type of a cloth. (00:20:30)
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam is walking with Jenny after getting back his necklace, he is seen wiping the blood on his neck. Camera angle changes and he's not wiping the blood, and when the camera angle changes again he's wiping the blood again.
Continuity mistake: After Jenny knees Amsterdam a second time, he grabs her by the throat but when the camera angle changes his hands are now at his sides. (00:40:05)
Continuity mistake: After Bill throws the knife at Amsterdam, he is seen walking up to him and when the camera angle changes he is seen at twice the distance from Amsterdam then he just was. (01:40:55)
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam is walking through the streets for the second time with Bill, Monk knocks Amsterdam's hat up so he can see his face. When he hits it up, the hat goes up on Amsterdam's face. Then they show Bill, then Amsterdam again, and the hat is back down shading his eyes. After a shot of Monk, they show Amsterdam again, and the hat is back up away from his eyes. (00:53:30)
Visible crew/equipment: During the first fight scene at the beginning, the snow looks extremely fake. One shot zooms in on a man's foot. As he lifts it up the snow is lifted as well, like a sheet of cotton.
Revealing mistake: When Bill gets shot at the theater blood gushes in quantities that could only come from a main artery. His obvious fitness in the following sequences speaks against it, though. (01:13:40)
Continuity mistake: When William "Boss" Tweed tries to win over Amsterdam, he hands him a newspaper that covers the events at the church of the previous day. In the next shot Amsterdam's hands are rested in his lap and the paper is nowhere, and the following wide shot confirms that he hasn't dropped it on the floor. (02:03:00)
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam and Johnny are looting the burning house Johnny gets trapped by a burning beam. Amsterdam can't make up his mind if he should continue the robbery or rescue his friend, looks at a heap of jewelry lying on the floor, then at Johnny, and when he grabs some pieces before he comes to his help there are only a few scattered around. (00:28:55)
Continuity mistake: After young Amsterdam grabs the knife his father was killed with he runs into the Old Brewery. You see his friend Johnny coming from inside while Amsterdam is running up the steps. Then a cut on Bill, then back to the brewery door, and Johnny emerges from the dark again calling out for his friend, and in this shot Amsterdam hasn't even reached the steps yet. (00:13:10)
Continuity mistake: In Vallon's death scene the blood streaks on his face change in at least three ways, most visibly those on his right cheek. Also the shaving cut he had inflicted on himself before the battle vanishes between two shots. (00:11:45)
Continuity mistake: During the first quasi love scene between Amsterdam and Jenny (after the dance) there is a shot where they begin to kiss, and they are at about the same height, right next to each other. In the next shot, Amsterdam pulls away, and you can see that she was laying back, and he was leaning over her, kissing - a completely different position. (01:07:05)
Revealing mistake: When Amsterdam meets Bill for the first time as an adult Bill is playing Whist. Because he is pissed with a guy whose bet isn't high enough he pulls his knife and pins the man's hand to the table. When he does so the hand isn't anywhere near the point where the knife goes in, and when Bill pulls out the knife again you see that it was stuck in the table and the man's hand was resting next to it. (00:36:00)
Other mistake: When Mulraney tries to kill Amsterdam and Amsterdam grabs him from behind there is no way that he would just have put his arms around his neck and not neutralized the gun first. Luckily Mulraney was kind enough to shoot into the air and then drop the gun. (01:53:25)
Continuity mistake: After the party following Bill's attempted murder Jenny walks up the stairs. Amsterdam runs after her immediately to confront her, and when he storms into her room she is in the middle of cleaning Bill's blood-stained clothes. Besides, there's no water in the bowl. (01:20:30)
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam jumps at the killer to protect Bill, the way he takes off to the right and the way he grabs the hand with the gun coming from the left side don't fit. (01:13:40)
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam comes to Bill's place for the first time there is a little altar with priest Vallon's picture. It has an inscription saying 'In Memory of Priest Vallon, 1846'. When he comes the second time and has his fist fight with McGloin the picture falls on the ground. When Bill put's it back on its place the inscription isn't there. (00:42:50)
Continuity mistake: When Vallon lies on the ground after Bill has stabbed him he is tightly surrounded by people. When you see his son holding on to his dying father you should see other people's feet, but there aren't any. Also from the lighting of the scene you can tell that these shots were taken with no crowd around. (00:11:00)
Continuity mistake: At the end of the Five Points battle, when the defeat of priest Vallon is announced, there are some shots of his shocked followers. In one you see Monk with a pretty clean face, but when the camera closes up on his face it's full of measles-looking blood stains. (00:10:35)
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 ★