Gangs Of New York
“You know what they say about a guy who wears a really tall hat, right?” “Sure. Really pointy head.” “…Er. No.”
Prior to watching Gangs Of New York, I considered the nearly-three-hour running time probably excessive — there are some gangs, they’re in New York, they’ll fight with poleaxes and blunderbusses and whatnot while everyone runs around all jazz hands with the super-greasy hair Hollywood insists every adult male had pre-1900, a few people dear to the hero will betray him and/or get killed, he’ll vanquish his sworn foe, time-lapse to modern-day Manhattan and credits, you don’t need three hours for that.
Happily, it’s not burdensome, aside from the pre-battle speechifying customary for period pieces, and a handful of barbed flashbacks whose reminders I didn’t need. The bits about the draft, and the ensuing riots, did seem too long until the payoff they’d carefully set up, although Scorsese might have done that more elegantly — the telegraph-voiceover conceit, with the intersections subtitled, is cheesy to a TV-reenactment degree. And speaking of cheesy, enough, now and forever go bragh, with the Hibernian flute. This is an issue with the TV and film industries generally, not just the GONY sound designer, but find a shorthand for “Irish” or “Ireland” that does not entail the mournful tootling of County Clicherry, could you please? I see Liam Neeson, I see Brendan Gleeson, I hear Irish accents on just about every character, and I have just watched half a dozen scenes in which the Irish-immigration “problem” is discussed, so thanks for the assist, Sully The Audio Shamrock, but you don’t need to carve off a piece of Irish Spring while wearing a fisherman-knit sweater and pouring a Guinness into my earhole because I GET THAT THEY’RE IRISH. This is not confined to depictions of Ireland by any means (see: “Henri-Pierre The Accordion Explains Paris B-Roll”), but regardless of the country of origin, it’s an irritant.
Aaaaanyway, ponderous length (and piping) aside, I liked it. I dreaded Cameron Diaz in the role of saucy pickpocket, and it’s still not my ideal casting for the role, but she did quite well with it, I thought, and Daniel Day-Lewis is as good as advertised. Bill The Butcher could have veered into cartoon territory, not least because of how he’s dressed in many of his scenes, but Day-Lewis is in control of the portrayal. DiCaprio is excellent, as usual, although he continues not to translate as an adult male, to me, and that goofy second-half pageboy didn’t help. He’s a hell of an actor, but he still presents as a late-teens, no-chest-hair stripling when he’s in fact six foot one and nearly my age (viz. his next role, Catch Me If You Can, in much of which he persuasively played a teenager); his ability to put a role like this over in spite of the physicality issue is impressive.
The movie is indulgent of itself in spots; once a film becomes an epic in its own mind, it gets lazy about checking itself for platitudes and slow pacing. But Scorsese’s usual excellence at putting you into the scene is in effect here, and it’s informative without core-dumping too much exposition. Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it, but I don’t think I’d watch it again. The best moment for me, actually, was realizing I had spotted Larry “D’Angelo Barksdale” Gilliard Jr. as Jimmy Spoils, and that Wire-related revelation can’t be repeated.
Tags: movies
I loved GONY; I expected to hate it. After There Will Be Blood I sat the boyfriend down to watch it and enjoyed it even more.
Then we rented The Age of Innocence. Oh my god suckage. Really really old movie spoiler alert: “I love you, I love you, I love you, I’m an old dude now, here’s Wilson from House, I’m gonna go now, annnnnd scene.” So bad. I am almost surprised consumption didn’t make the cut into the film it was so old-worldy trite.
I thought I was one of the few people to like GONY, but I loved it. I’m a sucker for anything NY history-esque.
I think the biggest problem though, is one of relativism. DiCaprio (and even Diaz) were both excellent in their roles. however, putting them (or anyone for that matter) up against the Day-Lewis method juggernaut just makes them pale in comparison. I’ve watched it more than once, and I still physically cringe in fear when he’s throwing those knives, even though I (a) know what happens and (b) know it’s just a movie.
As much as I liked GONY, I wish Scorcese had spent less time ensuring details (clothing, architecture, props, etc.) were accurate and more time developing the plot. I still felt for a 3 hour movie, the plot could be summed up in a mere 3 sentences: My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
I agree entirely on the summation of DiCaprio’s talent. He’s become a consistently good actor, who probably does not get enough credit due to looking like he still needs to be carded when buying a beer. I loved his performance in Catch Me If You Can, and felt of his two high profile films 2 years ago, he was Oscar nominated for the wrong one (Blood Diamond vs. The Departed).
I had always felt the same way about DiCaprio: appealing presence in a movie, good actor, won’t-he-be-cute-when-he-grows-up (wait-a-second, we’re-the-same-age)…until I saw him in The Departed. Watching the movie I was sorta, Wow, he looks pretty good, is it me or has he gotten kinda hot? And then the Obligatory Sex Scene, where I kinda initially was still cringe-y at the thought of seeing that bird cage chest bared, all “I’m a manly man!”…until he ripped off his shirt. NICE. Muscles, tattoo, good arms. So nice, in fact, that I then got all “ooo yum!” looking at him and then felt like some kind of perv, because I still have him holding at like, 15, somehow.
I hated this movie, and sat, fuming, through the eight years it took to get the Climactic Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate DiCaprio, but when the elephant runs by, and the ENTIRE CAST stops to make a WTF! face…I fell deeply in love.
I could never watch the whole movie again, but I would watch the elephant scene on a continuous loop for the rest of my life.
What I want to see is Sars’ review of another Scorsese cheese fest, The Departed. Which, while entertaining, is wretchedly heavy handed (SEE THE RAT? ON BEACON HILL?? SYMBOLISM!) Unless I’ve missed it, in which case, hook a girl up…
Also, to borrow a line from the GBC, how does anybody get any police work done in Boston when there are chicks to be dogged?
GONY drove me nuts- it just *ended.* I never knew what happened to those that were left (being purposely vague so as not to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it). When it was all over I was left wondering what the point was? Was it a slice of life in New York circa 1863? Or a War is Bad Movie? Or a Looky at the Cool Period Piece Movie? I’m not being glib, I really couldn’t figure out why it ended when it did, and what I was supposed to take away from the movie.
Thus said, Daniel Day Lewis was chillingly great, and I wish I could find that mix of the U2 song on cd or mp3 (that plays at the end and into the credits). Does anyone have a cut of it?
And DiCaprio just doesn’t do it for me.
Haven’t seen the movie, but absolutely recommend the book. It was written back in the 1910’s, I believe, and is a fascinating and readable history of this aspect of New York. I first read it while living in Lower Manhattan and boy, did I see my neighborhood through new eyes. It was awesome. Plus, I found an ancestor in there — he was the leader of a gang that robbed people down on the docks and was hanged. Rock on!
what’s your opinion on the much touted “goryness” of the movie? I’d love to see it, but the gross factor holds me back…
See also: Bagpipes and Scotland, Didgeridoos and Australia, Ukelele and Hawaii, “Deedeedeedee dah dah doot doot deee” and Japan, Rap and Black People…
Maybe Leo could get a really wicked facial scar. That might help.
Overall I liked this when I first saw it, but that was in high school (I’m a weester, I know) so I’d like to see it again now. Also I have a pathological hatred of Cameron Diaz, but regardless of my feelings I think she looks way too modern for this film.
Now you know why I was always telling Tara I was going to paint the Bravo office with two coats of her blood.
I just wanted to throw in there that the costumes in GONY are most likely the way they are because they’re entirely accurate for the time period. I used to work in a small “historical restoration” village out on Long Island that you may or may not have heard of. We spent many a long afternoon debating period costume – ours weren’t particularly historically accurate, mostly for reasons of comfort and also because if they were more accurate, we’d look rediculous and be even less “believable.”
And ther’s your useless information for today. Thank you.
@Nomie: I agree, although it didn’t bother me nearly as much as the casting of Michelle Pfeiffer in Age Of Innocence. I like that movie a lot, and I’ve made my peace with her in it, but on first viewing it was annoying; she has a certain modern/California look that didn’t seem to fit.
@josie: I will freely admit that I am a pretty squeamish person, and I covered my eyes for a lot of the violent scenes in GoNY. I think the movie itself was fine, but I won’t watch it again because of that. YMMV.
Sarah Bunting: If nothing else, I doubt that anyone in 1860s New York was quite so Rich Person Skinny. Bony and malnourished, maybe, but that’s different from being thin on purpose.
Oh man did I hate this movie. My boyfriend and I saw it with my sister and her boyfriend the Christmas it was out in theaters, and we spent the whole car ride home railing against it. I thought it was too long, and the riot scenes seemed a distraction (though I love Jim Broadbent), but mostly it was just a bunch of inconsistencies. To wit:
Was it ever explained why Liam Neeson’s character, a priest, had a son?
Why does the horrible burn that Day Lewis gives DiCaprio magically disapper one scene later?
Why does Day Lewis’s glass eye MOVE?!
I’m sure I could think of more, but I’ll be quiet.
Yeesh. Well, at least now there’s a reason for The Age of Innocence to exist as a movie: Sars likes it! I had the unholy experience of being an extra on that movie, during the “opera” section. Mostly I remember getting damaged hair out of it, and ruining my fabulous kid gloves (previously my mom’s). PSA: Be prepared to wait about twelve hours before filming starts on one of Marty’s movies! A lot of Philadelphia BigWigs were extras, and their numbers diminished alarmingly as the hours dragged on and we were treated like cattle (which actors are used to, but BigWigs aren’t). The saving grace was the talent show we had for ourselves on Day Two, as we waited; I brought my embroidery. Mostly it looked like Prom Night on the Titanic, with people in full evening dress propped up against every surface, or sprawled on the floor, waiting for anything to happen.
“Why does Day Lewis’s glass eye MOVE?!”
Well fitted glass eyes do move. A well made glass eye that fits in the socket properly will be moved by the surrounding muscles in the same way the biological eyeball was. It may not always track perfectly with the other eye (making certain expressions look a little cross eyed) but it will move, especially as no one moves the muscles in one eye socket independently.
Source: too much TV, and also my friend’s sister in law has a glass eye. I knew that in advance of meeting her, but hers is so perfectly made I couldn’t tell which was the real one and which was the glass one. Really.
Topic? I don’t remember the movie that well. I know my whole family went. I remember not hating it, but not loving it either. I think I didn’t “get” it. And Cameron Diaz did bug me, as she usually does.
“… thanks for the assist, Sully The Audio Shamrock, but you don’t need to carve off a piece of Irish Spring while wearing a fisherman-knit sweater and pouring a Guinness into my earhole because I GET THAT THEY’RE IRISH. This is not confined to depictions of Ireland by any means (see: “Henri-Pierre The Accordion Explains Paris B-Roll”), but regardless of the country of origin, it’s an irritant.”
Oh, thank God, someone else finally said it! (Also: Hee!) This was only one of my difficulties with this movie, but I found it emblematic of the rest (or, dare I say, SYMBOLIC!!) I found the whole business so heavy-handed. I felt like I was being pummelled with SIGNIFICANCE! and MEANING! at every turn. Bill the Butcher (and his damn hat), the language, the violence, everything was so wildly overscale it just threw me out of the story, and made me tired. Unlike you, though, I never felt that Day Lewis was in control – I thought he was just getting his rocks off in the messiest, rowdiest, scenery-chewing-est way imaginable. I have trouble thinking Di Caprio as a grownup, too, but at least he was playing a human being, and not some sort of animatronic parade-float creature. Don’t even get me started on Bill’s American Eagle eye. Oy.
As for Age of Innocence, turning Edith Wharton boring should be a criminal offence. God, what a waste!
Allow me to assure you that the Irish community shares your disdain for the wailing, depressing flute music (and the shitty, shitty Oirish accents) that comes blaring up whenever we are so much as mentioned in film or TV.
Yeah, I forgot to say, “Sully the Audio Shamrock” made me laaaaaugh and laaaaaugh and laaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuughhh….
Maybe I’ll pick up the book for this one. My husband and I saw it once, yeas ago, and this makes me kind of want to see it again, but the phrase “gratuitous violence” keeps coming to my mind. But maybe that stuck with me so much because we watched it at my parents’ house with my sister–and her KIDS, ages TWO and EIGHT, and I was so uncomfortable with them being there that, rather than focus on the movie, I just sat there, thinking, what the fuck??
“I still felt for a 3 hour movie, the plot could be summed up in a mere 3 sentences: My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. ”
Heh. Yes, and it was better the first time. @Michael: Well played.
I remember watching What’s Eating Gilbert Grape back in the day and thinking:
“Wow, that DiCaprio kid is a good actor. Hope once he’s past his teens he’ll lose that My Small Features Have Been Squished Horizontally Into Tiny Eyes Nose and Mouth Across A Normal Sized Face Look.”
Still a good actor. Still waiting for that other thing. IMO, it’s why he still looks twelve.
Add to the above lists: Twangly banjos and wailing fiddles used to telegraph “Southern”, even if the movie is set in the present day. Very, VERY few people still play fiddle or banjo here, and the ones who do are dying off. You’re more likely to hear Outkast or Nelly Furtado or something. Not that they’re automatically any better, but still.
Aaaaaand let’s not forget the Morriconical minor-chord didgeridoo (sp?) to underline the origins of Native American characters.
@Cij: The U2 song playing over the end credits is “The Hands that Built America.” I found it on the iTunes Store but it might not be the exact same version you hear in the movie. Still a pretty song though. I’m annoyed whenever I watch Gangs of New York but for some reason, the ending montage gets to me. I’m weird, I guess.