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New
York City, 1863. Before there was the city we know today, a city
of wealth, power and infinite dreams, New York was a very different
place, a fledgling young city where the desire for a better life
raged in crime-ridden streets. Here, as the Nation's own survival
was being tested by the ongoing Civil War, a vast and dangerous
underworld was born in the streets.
These
were the gangs of New York, as portrayed in Herbert Asbury's classic
book, whose racketeering, bootlegging, swindling, gambling and murdering
would become legendary - and whose culture of corruption threatened
the very survival of America's working people.
In
the young, unfinished City, it was a time of ruthlessness, intolerance
and fear. But it was also a time of extraordinary bravery, as those
pushed to the edge fought for the freedom of future generations.
Director
Martin Scorsese sets his epic drama GANGS OF NEW YORK in this defining
moment in New York City history, an era whose conflicts helped define
who and what makes an American. Against the backdrop of this brave
new world unfolds a story about a fatherless son's search for honor,
vengeance and the courage to remake his life.
Scorsese
says: "Ever since I was a child growing up in Lower Manhattan,
I was drawn to stories of Old New York. Each day, as I explored
the neighborhood streets, I slowly uncovered clues to an extraordinary
but relatively unknown period in the City's and our country's history.
The 1860s seemed to overflow with unbelievable stories of the working
classes; of the waves of immigrants who crowded the streets and
alleyways; of the corrupt politicians; and of the legends of the
corrupt politicians; and of the legends of the underworld who fought
to control it all. They are the stories of the testing of America
and what the young country stood for. They are the stories of our
roots."
GANGS
OF NEW YORK introduces today's world to the Five Points, a dark,
teeming corner of the city known to New Yorkers of long ago as the
center of vice and chaos. Into this frontier of extreme lawlessness,
arrives the young Irish American Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Amsterdam is the orphaned son of the slain Priest Vallon - once
chief warrior of the Dead Rabbits gang that rallied the Irish immigrants
of the Five Points - and a man intent on a reckoning.
After
16 long years in a "House of Refuge," Amsterdam has returned
to the Five Points to hunt down his father's killer. His target
is William Cutting AKA "Bill the Butcher" (Daniel Day-Lewis),
who has since become the merciless new leader of the neighborhood,
a Nativist who detests the newly arrived immigrants and is determined
to fend off all so-called "foreign invaders." Each year,
on the anniversary of Priest Vallon's death, the victory is commemorated
with a celebration - with invitations handed out only by way of
the Butcher. Amsterdam's plan is clear: to lie in wait and slay
his father's killer on this, the annual night when the Butcher celebrates
his great victory with a roll of the drum and a sip from a glass
of fire. As Amsterdam articulates, "when you kill a king, you
don't stab him in the dark. You kill him where the whole court can
watch him die."
While
waiting for that night, Amsterdam works his way deep into the Butcher's
inner circle, a world of alternating honor and cruelty from which
he can only hope to escape. But the closer he gets to Bill, the
more he falls under his spell and becomes conflicted - playing the
role of the man's surrogate son while keeping the true secret of
his past in the shadows. But finally, when his identity is revealed,
Amsterdam realizes that an organized Irish populace could take on
Bill's Nativist Army. His destiny changes, and he becomes a leader
of his people.
At
the same time, Amsterdam meets Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), an
enigmatic pickpocket whose quicker-than-the-eye hands and fierce
independence fascinate him. When details of her closely linked past
with Bill the Butcher emerge, the relationship between the three
only intensifies.
Amsterdam's
fight for family honor, freedom and to protect the woman he now
loves ultimately collides with a pivotal moment in New York and
American history: the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots. This urban uprising,
fueled by new Americans like Amsterdam, will have repercussions
that will spread through the Five Points to the halls of Government
and beyond, and reveal a tenacious spirit in the city that endures.
THE
DIRECTOR
Martin
Scorsese is the director of over twenty-five films including "Mean
Streets," "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "Taxi
Driver," "New York, New York," "The Last Waltz,"
"Raging Bull," "The King of Comedy," "After
Hours," "The Color of Money," "The Last Temptation
of Christ," the Life Lessons segment of "New York Stories,"
"GoodFellas," "Cape Fear," "The Age of
Innocence," "Casino," "Kundun" and "Bringing
Out the Dead."
A graduate
of New York University, Scorsese worked as an editor until his first
feature, "Who's That Knocking At My Door?," caught the
attention of Roger Corman who asked him to direct "Boxcar Bertha."
He returned to New York to film "Mean Streets" in 1973,
and his work attracted the critical acclaim and national attention
that launched his career.
Scorsese
co-directed and co-wrote (with Michael Henry Wilson) the British
Film Institute/Channel 4 documentary "A Personal Journey with
Martin Scorsese Through American Movies," which celebrated
one hundred years of filmmaking. In addition, he created "Italianamerican,"
a documentary about his parents.
He
is one of the founders of the Film Foundation, which promotes the
restoration of films by studios and archives. In 1992, he launched
Martin Scorsese Presents, a company dedicated to the restoration
and distribution of classic films.
Scorsese
has also sought to encourage other filmmakers through his producing
efforts on "The Grifters," "Mad Dog and Glory,"
"Naked in New York," "Search and Destroy," "Clockers"
and "Grace of My Heart." He recently co-produced Matthew
Harrison's "Kicked In the Head" and Stephen Frears' "The
Hi Lo Country," and also served as executive producer on Kenneth
Lonergan's "You Can Count On Me."
Scorsese
recently received the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award and was honored
with a special gala tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Her served as president of the jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
"Il
Mio Viaggio in Italia," the first part of his documentary film
about the history of the Italian cinema, was released in 2001.
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