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Oh, ok Boss Tweed. I'm not familiar with him... what exactly was his position? It almost seemed as though he was the mayor, but he couldn't be.
Could he?
Could he?
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He was mayor of New York.Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn
Oh, ok Boss Tweed. I'm not familiar with him... what exactly was his position? It almost seemed as though he was the mayor, but he couldn't be.
Could he?"I'm moving to the Left" - Lancer
"I imagine the neighbors on your right are estatic." - SlowwhandComment
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I definately want to see it.
But how much is historicaly correct? Did the Irish and the native english/dutch (poor indians.. :sad: ) really kill each other so much? Was there really this psycho gang boss who ruled on high? Who was he?Comment
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Well, I know they killed eachother and formed gangs to kill others and protect their own.Originally posted by aahz_capone
I definately want to see it.
But how much is historicaly correct? Did the Irish and the native english/dutch (poor indians.. :sad: ) really kill each other so much? Was there really this psycho gang boss who ruled on high? Who was he?
But I'm not sure if it happened to the level the movie depicts.Comment
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One big thing back then in New York was animal spectacles and torture fights -- similar to the old Roman spectacles.
Bear Baiting was a popular spectator sport, and sadly cruel. They would chain the bear down and have him fight several dogs at once.
Another sport was rat fighting, where they put a dog into the pit and have him fight up to 100 rats at a time.Last edited by Ted Striker; January 2, 2003, 01:02.We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham LincolnComment
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"the evening would commence with bear-baiting, badger and coon drawing, wolf-hunting and rat-killing." The bear was baited by five dogs until he caught them in his paws and crunched them half to death, amid the yells and cheers of the assembled fancy...
We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham LincolnComment
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They showed rat fighting in the movie, but only for a split second.Originally posted by Ted Striker
"the evening would commence with bear-baiting, badger and coon drawing, wolf-hunting and rat-killing." The bear was baited by five dogs until he caught them in his paws and crunched them half to death, amid the yells and cheers of the assembled fancy...
http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/rats_2/Comment
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I haven't seen the movie -- God only knows when it will get to Turkey -- but I have read Luc Sante's book Low Life, which is a history of crime, vice and subcultures in 19th century New York. It's brilliant; anyone interested in such things should definitely seek it out (Sante was a technical advisor on Gangs of New York, IIRC). Given some of the history sante recounts, it sounds like Scorsese wouldn't really have to exaggerate all that much.
The best event Sante recounts, however, sounds like it didn't make it into the movie. Some time in the 1840s or 1850s, the State Government of NY decided that the NYC police were too corrupt and thuggish to continue policing the city (which appears to be true, although there decision was also politically motivated by the kind of City/Upstate rivalries that still pepper NY politics). The state legislature voted do disband the entire police force
, and then send a new one down from Albany. The new force marched down from Albany on foot and, upon their arrival, were met by the not-at-all-disbanded NYC police. What followed was a riot between the two police forces, which lasted for days as the two sets of men in blue fought it out in the streets of New York like warring guerilla factions. Meanwhile, of course, New York's considerable criminal population had quite a holiday. 
Low Life by Luc Sante. Check it out
"I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George CarlinComment
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OK i finally got around to seeing this today.
Excellent movie!! I loved it. This will probably be a movie that goes in my DVD collection. I'll have to see how it ages over the next few months though.
I felt it was an interesting time period and an interesting setting. It would help if I knew more about New York City, but I know the basics so I wasn't lost or anything.
Don't see this movie if you don't like the sight of blood
- or fake blood.
They say it's a flawed masterpiece, but I can't find anything wrong with it right now. The plot isn't that original. It's been done before in these types of movies. I suppose it is the setting which makes it unique. I'm always excited about movies when I first get out. Of course then sometimes I read negative comments from other people, and I start to think it isn't that good
. Because I rarely find mistakes in movies, but when other people point them out I start to realize the movie isn't that good. As of now I rate this movie 5 stars out of 5 stars. It may slip to 4 1/2 stars out of 5 in a week or so though after I contemplate it more (and read negative comments )
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I didn't find it confusing at least most of the movie.
The endind was a little confusing. Because even though they did mention conscription throughout the movie, that was more of a footnote. The main motivation seemed to be DiCaprio wanting revenge and the power stuggle for control of the five points area.
So what I take from the movie is Di Caprio had a mini battle in the midst of all the other rioting over conscription. But I'm still not entirely sure what Di Caprio's dispute with the Butcher had to do with the anti-concription riots. How much influence did DiCaprio have on the anti-conscription riots? He doesn't even mention the issue of concription.
but up till the end, I followed the movie easily.Comment
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Hard to say WRT to Dicpario's character and the anticonscription riots Dissident. In spite of the Confederate sympathizers on Apolyton, most Americans see see the US as the just side in the civil war, so in order to keep Leo seen as the good guy they probably didn't want to keep him as too involved with the anticonscription riots. Also notice how they had the mobsters attack colored people(even the colored orphanage) to make sure it didn't make the Federal troops look too bad when crushing the gangs.
The reason I thought this was a great movie was its great sense of "there"ness. It really felt like they did a good job of showing 1863 New York and it covered history that I was barely familiar with. The people I know who didn't like it seemed to not like it because of they felt the plot was insufficient- and I guess they are right that there is nothing too special about the plot involving the characters. But it does a great job of creating a historical feel for 1863 New York and that is what I really liked about it- for me in this case the setting made the movie. (From what I understand, this one is pretty good on accuracy. I heard Scorcese was advised by one of the experts on the history of New York.) I also particularly liked as an Irish person- you don't hear too much about Irish-American history and I liked it that this movie focused so much on them.
One main problem with the movie though was Dicpario. He did an alright job, but he just didn't seem to convince me he was a street thug. He just seemed like any other hero transplated in from any other movie, not a hard core city gangster..."I'm moving to the Left" - Lancer
"I imagine the neighbors on your right are estatic." - SlowwhandComment
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I agree with you on the sets. The movie looks beautiful (depite it being in the slums). Visually this movie is stunning. This along with the LOTR movies are some of the best looking movies I have seen in many years.
I thought DiCaprio is alright. Good enough to make up for Titanic. His accent wasn't as consistant as I would like- but it wasn't that big a deal. Daniel Day Lewis is getting most of the buzz. And rightfuly so. His performance was great.
Just looked at imdb. I didn't realize that was Cameron Diaz! I'm so used to her having a certain look, I didn't recognize her. I suppose that bodes well to her acting. Although I felt there some actresses who could have done it better. But still a good job despite being another american who can't do the accent. Maybe they could have went with a real irish babe for her.
And I did believe DiCaprio as a thieving gangster. He just looks like thief. At least in the movie he did. As a tough guy he probably didn't pull it off as well as some others could have. He did look more bulked up in this movie though. And right now I can't think of any young actors masculine enough (yet can still fit the part) to pull this off. Most of these young actors now days are pretty boys- and many don't have a build. The one's that do have a build wouldn't fit the role- like Vin Deisal.
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Just got done reading the first page of reviews on imdb.
most people seem to hate it.
I suppose they are right about some things. But even greats like Scorcese probably gets bullied by producers to cast people like DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. What can I say.
I just can't see why they hate it so much.Comment
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Spoiler:"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll die defending your right to say it." — Voltaire
"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." — ConfuciusComment
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Still gotta go see this, but from what you guys say I don't think I'll be disappointed, seeing as I'm a history/setting buff. I can't eally see why people would hate a movie like this so much though (except maybe because they hate leo).
Offtopic: speaking of lots of blood, Ghost ship, which I recently saw, scared the livingout of me. OK, I've seen a lot of mangas and hentai, but seeing the same moves in a movie is icky. Hellraiser 3 didn't affect me so bad as this.Spoiler:
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