Absolutely amazing movie. My maternal grandmother, while she was still alive, told me she came off the boat and lived around the 5 Points in 1910 and lived through Prohibition. All her old stories from that area is what drew me to watch that movie in the first place. Times were so different back then.
@@schnarfschnarf5886 “Ignorance is an enemy, even to its owner. Knowledge is a friend, even to its hater. Ignorance hates knowledge because it is too pure. Knowledge fears ignorance because it is too sure.” Sri Chinmoy No one individual on the planet knows everything, but we can all do our best to share our bits of knowledge with each other.
Totally agree! I think they messed up submitting him for Best and not Supporting. Brody was great in Pianist, but I think he def would have outshined and beat Chris Cooper in Adaptation. Plus Leo was really the protagonist of the movie.
My wife and I visited there earlier this year and it was lovely. Everybody was nice to us, there was so much culture, so much food, and we had a great time
My hometown has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. In 70 years it’s going to be a very different place than the city I grew up in. I suspect this is the case with many cities that have seen population growth during this time. As new people move in, many areas of wealth change. With that the community surrounding those neighborhoods change as well. I find it fascinating. Societies are in a constant state of change. Somehow we think the age we find ourselves in is different from those who lived over the last two hundred thousand years. We aren’t different or better than those people. We just have the accumulation of their knowledge.
in the movie, there was a reference to William Tweed...the precursor to modern day democrats, ancestor to Biden Crime family...and therie modern day supporetes ..present , past and futre.
My family came from Ireland to the five points in the 1860s, a lot of stories have been passed down about that time. My family worked hard and dragged themselves out of that hell hole, nothing was given to them but misery.
Seems like all families who came over back then (including my Italian and Jewish grandparents)within two generations-dragged themselves up by their boot straps, became respectful citizens and contributed to making America what it once was....Meanwhile, there's a group that's been here for over ten generations and they're still in the hole-the gutter. And none of the new immigrants are interested in perpetuating "America."...sorry, but I just had to say all of the above.
Today there is a park where part of the collect pond was. Shockingly it’s named Collect Pond Park. It was closed for a renovation a few years ago and they had to stop work on it when they found part of the foundation to the old Tombs jail. The park is opposite Manhattan Criminal Court which is connected to the Manhattan Detention Complex which is still nicknamed The Tombs
There’s nothing shocking about it. I think you’ll find many examples of history throughout every city in the world. Towns and cities evolve. As such, a land needs change. That doesn’t mean the name should change - especially back when it would have been difficult to alert mapmakers to the change.
Daniel Day Lewis can be quite terrifying! 😮 His performances in this film as well as "There Will Be Blood" gave me chills. I can barely look at him now
Whenever I need to to get in a certain frame of mind (more assertive, less polite / demur ladylike behavior) I always tell myself that I’m going to drink the other individual’s milkshake. This works particularly well for me as milkshakes are my favorite food. It allows something primitive to take over. Someone is in charge who is very controlled and determined. (Not really, but that would be crazy if true) 🤭
Gangs of New York is an amazing movie, with what is, in my opinion, the best character to ever grace a movie screen...Bill the Butcher. Daniel Day-Lewis, as we all know, is one of the best actors of all time, and his portrayal of Bill the Butcher is astonishing. Knowing that he is the epitome of method acting, I can only imagine what each day on the set must have been like, calling him Bill and hoping he didn't cut something off.
He's "method" but he's not insane or mean. There's even a clip of him laughing briefly at a joke, breaking character while filming There Will Be Blood. He's not Leto (but has much more talent IMO)
@@RegurgiNate84 I gotta give the edge to There Will Be Blood being the slightly better performance. Bill the Butcher, while an amazing performance, can be just a tad bit too theatrical at times, and it slightly strains believability for me just a tad sometimes. Whereas with Daniel Plainview, I don't think there's a single moment in that movie that isn't fully believable and authentic feeling. It's a more understated performance that nonetheless actually has more power to it. It maybe helps that There Will Be Blood is also the better movie than Gangs of New York. I do really like GONY, but it has its flaws and I think they're more numerous than TWBB's flaws, which is a damn-near perfect movie.
I’d like to add that the book “Low Life”, by Luc Santé, also covers this section of NYC, especially from the outlaw/criminal population. And a fictionalized account of Teddy Roosevelt’s contemporaries in the area called “The Alienist”, has also been recently (in the past decade and a half- I’m old, okay?) adapted into a TV series.
@@cbroz7492 older… and wiser, I see! I always see an ally in someone who still enjoys reading books. I’m not surprised that the book mentioned sparked several term papers- are there any written by you? I find that time and place in history to be fascinating-
Man as much as I hate violence and blood this movie is one of my favorites Mainly cause I’m obsessed with the time period it is portraying Thank you for This video!! Happy Friday
I cant remember entirely, but in the Making of the movie mini-doc, they said The Dead Rabbits name came from something like "ded rabeed", an Irish nickname for a tough guy at the time.
A few years ago, a maximum security prison was built in Seneca County in the Fingerlakes region of New York, near my home. I laughed my ass off when they named it Five Points! Wouldn't you think the New York State Corrections Department would have a clue what that meant?
There’s an intersection in Rockford Illinois that is called “Five Points “ it’s where five roads intersect. Charles Street, North and South Alpine Road, Broadway and Newburg Road s.
I've often recommended Gangs of New York to people who don't mind a little violence and I've had people tell me that it was a bit too violent for their liking. I didn't find it too violent and I saw it at the theater on the big screen. Thank you for fact checking the movie, it's good to know that Martin Scorsese didn't stray too far from the truth as far as the names of the gangs, their political stance and their violence against each other and outsiders. When I want complete historical accuracy I'll watch a documentary or read about that period but when I want to be entertained stretching the truth is allowed.
This movie had been on Scorcese's mind for decades before he actually did it. He said it would probably been a lot more violent had he directed it the 70s or 80s but by this time he was consciously trying to tone down the violence in his movies.
Omg I'm so glad this was made I legit just rewatched that movie yesterday omg this is crazy I love this movie and loved the history buffs video on it 5 points sound like a really interesting location
I have seen this movie n I have to say, the director LITERALLY did his homework. Hey can you do a weird history of Marie Laveau? I would be OBLIGED if you do😊
I grew up on NYC’s lower east side and the five points was basically near Chinatown and just east of little Italy. I’m here to tell you the violence was real and you better learn how to navigate it- very proud I survived
My great-grandfather was killed in one of the Five Point Gang riots. He was killed by a gang of Irish that were supposedly part of the dead rabbits gang He was a Scottish house painter and was painting on a scaffolding where he was knocked off and killed. It caused my great grandmother and grandfather to hate the Irish. 😞
I'm sorry you gghf was killed ..but Scott's Hated The Irish back than already... Scott's were planters in Ireland throughout it's 800 year occupation..they also were the people in charge / torturing / enslaving of the Irish in all the Colonies...so not like needed the excuse....may I ask how did they know in the riot it was Irish that accidentally banged into scaffolding and not Italian. American etc ..why would he have been up on scaffolding if a riot going on ?
Iriah accidently knocked your great-grandaf off scaffolding and killed him... While the Scots planted in Ireland, violently stole their land and helped butcher and starve them along with the English planters.... If you hate Irish people for that one incident, imagine how we feel if we held your bitterness
Thank you for making this!!!---When I logged on, I was like "Fuck yesss" and immediately clicked it. We of the original people who saw "Gangs of New York" when it first came out, thought it was the coolest and most darkest movie since "Goodfellas." Daniel-Day Lewis definitely deserved an Oscar for his performance!!! A lot of people dont know this, but Daniel IS Irish and he played a racist New Yorker who absolutely hates the Irish with such a passion he would murder them in the streets. Absolute genius acting!!! I could watch that movie alll the time and never get tired of it:)
“ We of the original people who saw GONY when it first came out “ 🤦♂️ my guy is talking like he’s part of a special group with high importance 😂 what a pleb
Fun fact: in the scene where Daniel Day Lewis taps his eye with his knife showing Leo the one he had cut out, he really did it. He wore a glass contact to protect his real eye. Imagine not blinking while tapping your eyeball with a knife! 😳
@@mikepalmer1971 I dunno. I lived in Chicago in the late 80's, and it was pretty violent. I didn't even live in that bad of a neighborhood compared to most of the south side of Chicago, but in my neighborhood there were murders, beatings, purse snatchings, rock fights, gang wars, and I was violently attacked out of the blue a few times for no good reason (possibly because I'm white). I think New York was burning in the 1970s, because there was so much insurance fraud. If I remember correctly, there was a time when one building was burned per day, on average. The hatefulness was in some ways worse due to the stupid war on drugs, which encouraged a lot of hatred towards various groups and individuals, not to mention all the harmless hippies locked up in brutal prisons over smoking a joint.
If one didn't know the real historical facts about the 5 Points then the film would seem too surreal to be believed . Truth always being stranger than fiction. Scorese (reared on Elizabeth St. just above the 5 points ) based his film on the book "The Gangs of New York" by Herbert Asbury.
Interesting coincidence in the timing of this upload, as I just finished reading Herbert Asbury's book which Scorsese used as a source of inspiration for his film. It was a great read.
I found your documentary on New York quite interesting & informative, also enjoyed your sense of humour to lighten up the depressing events that took place during that period of time
A+ video! The process of how those events unfolded are fascinating. It seemed like the gangs were as fast in the process of disbanding as they were banding.
The old brewery in the five points, was notorious for muggies and murders. When they torn down the building, they found corpses in between the walls and floorboards.
Mentioning Bill the Butcher and the rabbits made me think I need to to cook Lapin au Cidre (rabbit with cidersauce) thanks for the food inspiration! Now, please make a video about Emma Goldman!
It's against their religion, the Irish were Catholic, the Bowery Boys were Protestant, a Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity. Look up 'The Troubles', same thing in Ireland and they're all Irish so it's not race. The Italians were treated like crap too, they're mostly Roman Catholic too. Today they don't identify by their religion but rather their political party, Republicans are Right leaning, they think their particular branches of religion should give them special rights and privilege, Democrats are Centrist, they think Christians in general should have special rights and privilege, all Christian denominations, Orthodox and Unorthodox should be equal and everyone else should be 2nd class. America doesn't have a political party for Secular Liberals, they have to join up with the Democrats but aren't given very much power, Bernie Sanders was about as Left as it gets, atheist Jew, but the Catholic Dems would never let him lead their party. There is no separation of Church & State, both parties represent the Catholic and Protestant sides of a holy war that's been going on for centuries, look up The Great Schism.
I read somewhere that Bill the Butcher in real life was a towering man who despite being on the heavy side. Could fight like a cornered beast with great speed,strength and ferocity. Heard in one account a man disrespected him and it took over 6 men to pull him away but the damage was done,he beat the man who disrespected him to death. But like all tales,I'm sure this was greatly exaggerated.
I wouldn't be so certain it's exaggerated, one of the best things about history is that the truth is often so much greater than the fiction which emulates it.
as a butcher his hand strength and knife handling skills would have given him a huge advantage. plus being well fed, which was rare. he was feared and respected i would imagine.
The Irish weren't fleeing a potato faminey they were fleeing because they were starving because England taking 90% of the agricultural harvest this is supposed to be a history channel how could you miss something so painfully well documented
Davy Crockett visited the Five Points and later wrote " Black and white, white and black, all hug-em-snug together, happy as lords and ladies, sitting round in a ring, with a jug of liquor between them, and I do think I saw more drunk folks, men and women, that day, than I ever saw before... I thought I would rather risk myself in an Indian fight than venture among these creatures after night. I said to [my friend]...these are worse than savages; they are too mean to swab hell's kitchen."
Allegedly Daniel Day Lewis caught pneumonia during the filming because he refused to wear a modern coat and later almost died because he refused to take modern antibiotics. I feel like there's more to the story than that.
He's a method actor who takes his roles very seriously. Heard he spoke in the accent he speaks throughout the movie just so it would feel natural to him throughout filming and wouldn't break character until everything was finished.
@@Off-with-a-bang I honestly think he just likes to have an excuse to learn new things. On pretty much every movie he's learned a new skill from boxing, to butchering, to fashion design.
@@tremorsfan You're right but there are interviews with his fellow co-stars and they confirmed this. The man likes to live out the roles he plays,so they can feel organic. Rather then him just doing an accent and just acting out like some tough guy from early America.
Crime in the 5 points still there ! Today, the Five Points neighborhood, once known as a center of vice, crime and debauchery throughout the nineteenth century is occupied by a center of justice - the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse.
I liked the Scorsese film, & I keep a DVD of it to check out from time to time. But I thought the film strayed from the Asbury book, which was fascinating. I had hoped to see more depictions of actual characters detailed by Herbert Asbury in actual photographs & recountings: like Red Rocks O’Farrell & Big Josh Hines, whose stories must’ve been at least as colorful as Bill the Butcher’s. But I imagine getting actual court records & police files on “ancient” NY criminal gangs was just too much-so, fiction. It’s too bad nobody bothered piecing these various bands & groups of people together in the 1940s & ‘50s for film. Not only would it have spared us a tonnage of Al Capone & Dillinger ‘moovies,’ but it might’ve gone a long way toward dispelling the very conditions and environmental factors H. Asbury wrote his study about, graphically depicting the types of derelict, dysfunctional neighborhoods that generate crime & criminality, which by this date, should’ve been eliminated entirely. Instead, the society that isolated immigrants & held them impoverished nearly 200 years ago keeps replicating THAT formula with alarming accuracy based on race. I believe the “criminologists” & sociology scholars who were observant of crime, including Charles Dickens, had real insights & potential step-stones of solutions which have never been correctly applied in order to eradicate second-to-fifth-class citizenship in any serious manner. Just like measles, rubella, smallpox, & sewage contamination, crime-&-poverty as a phenom could’ve been contained, prevented from spreading, & virtually wiped-out systemically by an ethical structuring of meting-out actual Justice, guaranteeing an end to abuse & oppression, & providing constructive help where it’s most needed. There’s just something Roman Empire resembling about desperately depending on Crime, Injustice & fossil-fueled combustible engines all these decades outside that era. ⚖️🌷 Nice video, though! The old photos & street markers were thoughtfully done!
I'd love to see the movie you would make. The solutions to homelessness and crime are everywhere, but the government and industry types seem to be intentionally creating more crime and homelessness, rather than having half a heart, or 10% of a brain.
He didn't mention the Irish gang with the BEST name: "The Plug Uglies". So called because they "plug" their oversized bowler hats with various types of soft stuffing and then pull the hats down as low as they possibly could without completely covering their eyes. It was essentially a ghetto helmet that offered at least some kind of protection from their enemies waylaying brickbats left and right. The Plug Uglies were, in addition to their headware, known for another fiendish practice extremely common in their ranks: pushing long nails through the toe of their boots. They would often kick a downed rival to death with the nails. They also had a few of the most well known and feared female gangsters in the 5 points amongst their numbers. One of the worst and most infamous housing tenements called the "Old Brewery" - saw a murder every single night for 3 consecutive years.
Something not mentioned but pertinent would be how much of a large gang or faction culture existed in the Ireland the new immigrants were coming from. At this time and especially before it wasn't at all uncommon for there to be large brawls featuring thousands across ireland to the point people came out in droves to watch. This is a cultural context many of the irish would have brough with them and used to survive such a brutal place.
What ? Are you talking about the battles with English forces ? Or clan fights .,or just couple fights ? Irish were in middle of famine so not sure much fighting going on in Ireland
@@ko0974 it definitely quieted down, but there is a LONG documented history of dueling and faction fighting in ireland from at least the 16th century onward. it obviously had died down to something less by the mid 19th century than before the 1800 acts of union, however it never went away or taken out of Irish culture at that time. it was only when the famines happened that it actually put any dent into it to any degree. but it sure as hell wasnt gone at the time depicted in the films. Especially immigrants who had been there a while. they would have known people who fought and died in faction fights. if you have any interest in the topic there is a LOT of documentation and new paper articles about it. the fights often included hundreds or thousands of men and just as many or more spectators would go to watch. it was especially prevalent in the south like in muenster and cork
@christopherlynch9006 yeah I read about that thanks 35 of them drowned. Feuding families, escalated to mass brawls didn't generally end with deaths but alot of injuries. Very similar to how travellers call each other for a fight , and both sides meet at a designated Area...or when two feuding families meet at funerals and weddings . Once saw bacterioochht ,..beating with sticks, it came back to me!
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
Absolutely amazing movie. My maternal grandmother, while she was still alive, told me she came off the boat and lived around the 5 Points in 1910 and lived through Prohibition. All her old stories from that area is what drew me to watch that movie in the first place. Times were so different back then.
Also known as your maternal grandmother - just fyi
No it was actually horse piss garbage and lent fuel to bullshit like pirates of the fagabean
So she lived through the ku klux Klan fighting Irish Catholic police officers era?
@@greywater3186well whooptie doo Basil
@@schnarfschnarf5886 “Ignorance is an enemy, even to its owner. Knowledge is a friend, even to its hater. Ignorance hates knowledge because it is too pure. Knowledge fears ignorance because it is too sure.”
Sri Chinmoy
No one individual on the planet knows everything, but we can all do our best to share our bits of knowledge with each other.
Daniel Day-Lewis deserved an Oscar for his portrayal of Bill the Butcher.
Bummed he lost to Adriene Brody since The Pianist was a good movie
Yes, he terrified me.
Totally agree! I think they messed up submitting him for Best and not Supporting. Brody was great in Pianist, but I think he def would have outshined and beat Chris Cooper in Adaptation. Plus Leo was really the protagonist of the movie.
You bet!!!!!❤
That was a stacked year
As a former New Yorker, I can say most of NYC it is still a smelly fart jar...
That's the beauty of ny .it's ok it makes us hungry and resilient.
That's because you've been away from civilization too long.
@@rifaieolton8451 Imagine saying your strength was how much you smell . . .
My wife and I visited there earlier this year and it was lovely. Everybody was nice to us, there was so much culture, so much food, and we had a great time
Same with L.A.😂😂😂
You know something, it's fascinating to study the history of a city's urban geography. So much can change in 100 or so years.
mY hometown changed in like 5
My hometown has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. In 70 years it’s going to be a very different place than the city I grew up in.
I suspect this is the case with many cities that have seen population growth during this time. As new people move in, many areas of wealth change. With that the community surrounding those neighborhoods change as well.
I find it fascinating. Societies are in a constant state of change. Somehow we think the age we find ourselves in is different from those who lived over the last two hundred thousand years.
We aren’t different or better than those people. We just have the accumulation of their knowledge.
@@greywater3186I like yer outlook on life fella ..
in the movie, there was a reference to William Tweed...the precursor to modern day democrats, ancestor to Biden Crime family...and therie modern day supporetes ..present , past and futre.
eventually rose to head of Tammany hall..stroghold of democrat poltical corruption.
My family came from Ireland to the five points in the 1860s, a lot of stories have been passed down about that time. My family worked hard and dragged themselves out of that hell hole, nothing was given to them but misery.
Sadly Irish we’re treated the same in Canada, was not easy for them
Were they from the Dead Rabbits?
Dead rabbits? Who knows, they left their past in the past. Like I said move on.
fascinating
Seems like all families who came over back then (including my Italian and Jewish grandparents)within two generations-dragged themselves up by their boot straps, became respectful citizens and contributed to making America what it once was....Meanwhile, there's a group that's been here for over ten generations and they're still in the hole-the gutter. And none of the new immigrants are interested in perpetuating "America."...sorry, but I just had to say all of the above.
Today there is a park where part of the collect pond was. Shockingly it’s named Collect Pond Park. It was closed for a renovation a few years ago and they had to stop work on it when they found part of the foundation to the old Tombs jail. The park is opposite Manhattan Criminal Court which is connected to the Manhattan Detention Complex which is still nicknamed The Tombs
There’s nothing shocking about it.
I think you’ll find many examples of history throughout every city in the world. Towns and cities evolve. As such, a land needs change. That doesn’t mean the name should change - especially back when it would have been difficult to alert mapmakers to the change.
...read Herbert Asbury's 1927 book of the same name...
Thanks for showing the modern day streets of the original 5 points. I’ve been to that area 100 times but never could figure out the exact location.
You could’ve just googled it…
@@DreamFactories I did that’s how I found it wise ass
Daniel Day Lewis can be quite terrifying! 😮 His performances in this film as well as "There Will Be Blood" gave me chills. I can barely look at him now
Whenever I need to to get in a certain frame of mind (more assertive, less polite / demur ladylike behavior) I always tell myself that I’m going to drink the other individual’s milkshake.
This works particularly well for me as milkshakes are my favorite food. It allows something primitive to take over. Someone is in charge who is very controlled and determined.
(Not really, but that would be crazy if true) 🤭
@@greywater3186 I love it 😆
Awesome actor❤
Someone hasnt seen ' the phantom thread'
@@kivalily Hmmm 🤔...no I have not. I'll check it out
One of the few channels on RUclips that is always worth the commercials.
Commercials? I’ve had RUclips premium for five or six years so I haven’t seen a commercial on RUclips forever
Gangs of New York is an amazing movie, with what is, in my opinion, the best character to ever grace a movie screen...Bill the Butcher. Daniel Day-Lewis, as we all know, is one of the best actors of all time, and his portrayal of Bill the Butcher is astonishing. Knowing that he is the epitome of method acting, I can only imagine what each day on the set must have been like, calling him Bill and hoping he didn't cut something off.
He was also amazing in There Will Be Blood. Such an underrated movie. Both movies are among my favorites.
He's "method" but he's not insane or mean. There's even a clip of him laughing briefly at a joke, breaking character while filming There Will Be Blood.
He's not Leto (but has much more talent IMO)
Agreed. This is my all time fave acting gig by DDL.
@@RegurgiNate84 I gotta give the edge to There Will Be Blood being the slightly better performance. Bill the Butcher, while an amazing performance, can be just a tad bit too theatrical at times, and it slightly strains believability for me just a tad sometimes. Whereas with Daniel Plainview, I don't think there's a single moment in that movie that isn't fully believable and authentic feeling. It's a more understated performance that nonetheless actually has more power to it. It maybe helps that There Will Be Blood is also the better movie than Gangs of New York. I do really like GONY, but it has its flaws and I think they're more numerous than TWBB's flaws, which is a damn-near perfect movie.
@@AWSVids fully agree
Brilliant to see the historical facts behind the film.
6:15 - I reckon "Roach" was most likely "Roche", an Irish surname of Norman origin.
I reckon it's a bug who runs when the lights are cut on.
I recommend reading "The Gangs of New York " book by Herbert Asbury written in 1927, of which the movie is based on
...Indeed that book during college (1967 - 1971) as the basis for a number of term papers...
I’d like to add that the book “Low Life”, by Luc Santé, also covers this section of NYC, especially from the outlaw/criminal population. And a fictionalized account of Teddy Roosevelt’s contemporaries in the area called “The Alienist”, has also been recently (in the past decade and a half- I’m old, okay?) adapted into a TV series.
@@tunguskalumberjack9987 ..I'm old too...73...
@@cbroz7492 older… and wiser, I see! I always see an ally in someone who still enjoys reading books. I’m not surprised that the book mentioned sparked several term papers- are there any written by you? I find that time and place in history to be fascinating-
I recommend reading 'The First Family', or America's First Family, (can't remember which) about the start of the mafia in America. Excellent read.
Wow, it's so crazy how the powerful gangs still control the same area!
You better stay quiet about that, capishe?
So you don't have any friends..
It's awesome that you can be so self centered.
Clearest example of an AI bot I've seen yet
They hold office. They're not difference
Man as much as I hate violence and blood this movie is one of my favorites
Mainly cause I’m obsessed with the time period it is portraying
Thank you for This video!!
Happy Friday
100% im feel the same thing and same way
I cant remember entirely, but in the Making of the movie mini-doc, they said The Dead Rabbits name came from something like "ded rabeed", an Irish nickname for a tough guy at the time.
A few years ago, a maximum security prison was built in Seneca County in the Fingerlakes region of New York, near my home. I laughed my ass off when they named it Five Points! Wouldn't you think the New York State Corrections Department would have a clue what that meant?
What makes you think they didn't?
Five Points is a pretty popular name. We have a traffic area called that right near me.
@@harvey1954 Better than Five Joints
“Bad ganging”. Outstanding writing!🤣
A fascinating subject, as it's recent enough to be relatable and that occurred in a place we all know.
There’s an intersection in Rockford Illinois that is called “Five Points “ it’s where five roads intersect. Charles Street, North and South Alpine Road, Broadway and Newburg Road s.
First seen this movie with my older brothers and I was like 12 or so. Grew up and rewatched it and it was even better
I've often recommended Gangs of New York to people who don't mind a little violence and I've had people tell me that it was a bit too violent for their liking. I didn't find it too violent and I saw it at the theater on the big screen. Thank you for fact checking the movie, it's good to know that Martin Scorsese didn't stray too far from the truth as far as the names of the gangs, their political stance and their violence against each other and outsiders. When I want complete historical accuracy I'll watch a documentary or read about that period but when I want to be entertained stretching the truth is allowed.
This movie had been on Scorcese's mind for decades before he actually did it. He said it would probably been a lot more violent had he directed it the 70s or 80s but by this time he was consciously trying to tone down the violence in his movies.
Omg I'm so glad this was made I legit just rewatched that movie yesterday omg this is crazy I love this movie and loved the history buffs video on it 5 points sound like a really interesting location
You skipped over the other gangs that eventually took over the area and even pushed out the Italians.
I have seen this movie n I have to say, the director LITERALLY did his homework.
Hey can you do a weird history of Marie Laveau? I would be OBLIGED if you do😊
5 Points was actually made famous by The Sting, being the place Doyle Lonnegan claims to be from.
I grew up on NYC’s lower east side and the five points was basically near Chinatown and just east of little Italy. I’m here to tell you the violence was real and you better learn how to navigate it- very proud I survived
My great-grandfather was killed in one of the Five Point Gang riots. He was killed by a gang of Irish that were supposedly part of the dead rabbits gang
He was a Scottish house painter and was painting on a scaffolding where he was knocked off and killed. It caused my great grandmother and grandfather to hate the Irish. 😞
I'm sorry you gghf was killed ..but Scott's Hated The Irish back than already... Scott's were planters in Ireland throughout it's 800 year occupation..they also were the people in charge / torturing / enslaving of the Irish in all the Colonies...so not like needed the excuse....may I ask how did they know in the riot it was Irish that accidentally banged into scaffolding and not Italian. American etc ..why would he have been up on scaffolding if a riot going on ?
It's cool bro. The hatred was mutual 👊
The scotch run the whole of the United Kingdom as it was us who formed a & took over London by putting our king on the throne of England……
Iriah accidently knocked your great-grandaf off scaffolding and killed him... While the Scots planted in Ireland, violently stole their land and helped butcher and starve them along with the English planters.... If you hate Irish people for that one incident, imagine how we feel if we held your bitterness
🇮🇪🍀
What about one on the Glasgow Billy Boys feared throughout Europe ,even worked in the States. Chicago.
This gang is mentioned in Peaky Blinders
Bridgeton Billy Boys would be a good look into,id watch it
Solid content.
The Dead Rabbit on water st. is a pretty cool pub inspired by the movie.
watching this while sampling "Hell-Cat Maggie" Irish Whiskey. Recipe from the 5 points, but bottled in Ireland.
This one of the better historical content channels on YT.
IF you could go back in time to that neighborhood , you would see Billy The Kid, one of those little Irish ghetto kids.!
I love this movie, im so glad to see this on your channel💜
Thank you for making this!!!---When I logged on, I was like "Fuck yesss" and immediately clicked it. We of the original people who saw "Gangs of New York" when it first came out, thought it was the coolest and most darkest movie since "Goodfellas." Daniel-Day Lewis definitely deserved an Oscar for his performance!!! A lot of people dont know this, but Daniel IS Irish and he played a racist New Yorker who absolutely hates the Irish with such a passion he would murder them in the streets. Absolute genius acting!!! I could watch that movie alll the time and never get tired of it:)
Well, kind of. Yes, his father was born in Ireland and was of Protestant Anglo Irish descent, but his mother was Jewish, and he was born in London.
“ We of the original people who saw GONY when it first came out “ 🤦♂️ my guy is talking like he’s part of a special group with high importance 😂 what a pleb
but he self identifies as Irish..
If your interested in other type of gangs there is American Me and Blood In Blood out.
@@ko0974 I self identify as a Northern Sentinelese Islander.
One of my all time favorite movies, I watched it for the 4th time just a few days ago! Thank you for this valuable content!
I have seen it twice up in my top ten for sure.
Kelly's New Brighton Cafe, by the way, later became home to the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and is home to a memorial plaque in his honor.
The picture shown at 3.05 was taken by Jacob Riis a part of a series called How the other half lives. around 1880.
Fun fact: in the scene where Daniel Day Lewis taps his eye with his knife showing Leo the one he had cut out, he really did it. He wore a glass contact to protect his real eye. Imagine not blinking while tapping your eyeball with a knife! 😳
I love history. Especially the weird history and there is a lot of it. Keep up the good work.
Bill the Butcher grew up in my small town of Sussex, NJ it's just cool to know that because now I live near the 5 points too lol!
thank u so much love your channel❤❤
So tap dancing came from the meeting of two different cultures!! I love that!!
Uh, yeah.
@@kathleenferguson3296 what's your point?
@@tbc3770 Uh-oh another gang/race riot is about to kick off. LOL just kidding, unless...
...read Herbert Asbury's 1927 book of the same name...I used that book almost 60 years ago in college as the basis for numerous term reports...
"I wish America was like the good old days again where people respected each other and people were moral!"
America back in the "good old days":
That is how life was in the 70’s 80’s and 90’s for the most in me experience. Much more mutual respect and less hate then.
@@mikepalmer1971 I dunno. I lived in Chicago in the late 80's, and it was pretty violent. I didn't even live in that bad of a neighborhood compared to most of the south side of Chicago, but in my neighborhood there were murders, beatings, purse snatchings, rock fights, gang wars, and I was violently attacked out of the blue a few times for no good reason (possibly because I'm white).
I think New York was burning in the 1970s, because there was so much insurance fraud. If I remember correctly, there was a time when one building was burned per day, on average.
The hatefulness was in some ways worse due to the stupid war on drugs, which encouraged a lot of hatred towards various groups and individuals, not to mention all the harmless hippies locked up in brutal prisons over smoking a joint.
The thing about "the good old days: I wasn't good and I wasn't old.
When I visited NYC I was surprised how bad it smelled
In south east San Diego there’s something similar called the 4 corners of death.
Thank-you as always 😊
I'd like to see you cover the period of time that Blood Meridian was based on
PLEASE hit me up with that glanton gang
Hey Weird history You guys should do a video about the civil war New York draft riots
If one didn't know the real historical facts about the 5 Points then the film would seem too surreal to be believed . Truth always being stranger than fiction. Scorese (reared on Elizabeth St. just above the 5 points ) based his film on the book "The Gangs of New York"
by Herbert Asbury.
My favourite film of all time!
I almost jumped when I saw this video title.
Gangs Of New York is my all time favorite movie
Just leaving a comment because you kick ass with these videos
Interesting coincidence in the timing of this upload, as I just finished reading Herbert Asbury's book which Scorsese used as a source of inspiration for his film. It was a great read.
You might want to check out Low Life by Lucy Sante as well.
I found your documentary on New York quite interesting & informative, also enjoyed your sense of humour to lighten up the depressing events that took place during that period of time
I found the 'humor' annoying and distracting.
And now that area is surrounded by a park and a bunch of courthouses. Pretty wild of you think about it
A+ video!
The process of how those events unfolded are fascinating.
It seemed like the gangs were as fast in the process of disbanding as they were banding.
The old brewery in the five points, was notorious for muggies and murders. When they torn down the building, they found corpses in between the walls and floorboards.
Why did they change the names?
Mentioning Bill the Butcher and the rabbits made me think I need to to cook Lapin au Cidre (rabbit with cidersauce) thanks for the food inspiration! Now, please make a video about Emma Goldman!
How about the real atmosphere in and around the adult film industry during the late 1970s and early 80s depicted in Boogie Nights?
Unsanitary conditions, squalor, and despair have plagued neighborhoods throughout human history. The common thread binding them all is children.
Remember seeing the history of the gangs of New York on a DVD from the film. Man, that's something.
Me when I see a "The Warriors" reference - "a man of culture I see."
Literally obsessed with the movie. Daniel dayyyyyy. So glad you did this video.
"YOU SEE THIS KNIFE!? IM GONNA TEACH YOU TO LEARN WIERD HISTORY WITH THIS F@#%$&÷ KNIFE!!!"
love it.
Thanks for this interesting subject.
This is racism against Irish people 😳
It's against their religion, the Irish were Catholic, the Bowery Boys were Protestant, a Greek Orthodox branch of Christianity. Look up 'The Troubles', same thing in Ireland and they're all Irish so it's not race. The Italians were treated like crap too, they're mostly Roman Catholic too. Today they don't identify by their religion but rather their political party, Republicans are Right leaning, they think their particular branches of religion should give them special rights and privilege, Democrats are Centrist, they think Christians in general should have special rights and privilege, all Christian denominations, Orthodox and Unorthodox should be equal and everyone else should be 2nd class. America doesn't have a political party for Secular Liberals, they have to join up with the Democrats but aren't given very much power, Bernie Sanders was about as Left as it gets, atheist Jew, but the Catholic Dems would never let him lead their party. There is no separation of Church & State, both parties represent the Catholic and Protestant sides of a holy war that's been going on for centuries, look up The Great Schism.
Thanks i learn something new every time I watch your docu's
I read somewhere that Bill the Butcher in real life was a towering man who despite being on the heavy side. Could fight like a cornered beast with great speed,strength and ferocity. Heard in one account a man disrespected him and it took over 6 men to pull him away but the damage was done,he beat the man who disrespected him to death. But like all tales,I'm sure this was greatly exaggerated.
I wouldn't be so certain it's exaggerated, one of the best things about history is that the truth is often so much greater than the fiction which emulates it.
as a butcher his hand strength and knife handling skills would have given him a huge advantage. plus being well fed, which was rare. he was feared and respected i would imagine.
Thank you. This history buff needed this
They dont call us the fighting irish for nothing 🍀 naturally tough and scrappy
01:35 have there EVER been any humans who actually respected nature and didn’t disgustingly pollute it !!!???
That scene where the Irish get off one ship, sign up for the military, and get right back on another ship. Damn.
Ya but the north was the good guys right? Lol.
@@mikepalmer1971 yeah they were; and I say that as a descendant of a Pvt in the the Army of Northern Virginia (their enemy).
@@mikepalmer1971 Without a doubt they were the good guys you traitorous scum.
"This document makes you a private in the US army. This document makes you a citizen. Now, go fight for your country."
The Irish weren't fleeing a potato faminey they were fleeing because they were starving because England taking 90% of the agricultural harvest this is supposed to be a history channel how could you miss something so painfully well documented
GONY is one of the greatest historical Movies I've ever seen!
Daniel went all-out as Bill the Butcher & even Leo did a superb job!
Davy Crockett visited the Five Points and later wrote " Black and white, white and black, all hug-em-snug together, happy as lords and ladies, sitting round in a ring, with a jug of liquor between them, and I do think I saw more drunk folks, men and women, that day, than I ever saw before... I thought I would rather risk myself in an Indian fight than venture among these creatures after night. I said to [my friend]...these are worse than savages; they are too mean to swab hell's kitchen."
Allegedly Daniel Day Lewis caught pneumonia during the filming because he refused to wear a modern coat and later almost died because he refused to take modern antibiotics. I feel like there's more to the story than that.
He's a method actor who takes his roles very seriously. Heard he spoke in the accent he speaks throughout the movie just so it would feel natural to him throughout filming and wouldn't break character until everything was finished.
@@Off-with-a-bang I honestly think he just likes to have an excuse to learn new things. On pretty much every movie he's learned a new skill from boxing, to butchering, to fashion design.
Why should you need an excuse to learn a new skill?
@@iankinsley601 Ask DDL.
@@tremorsfan
You're right but there are interviews with his fellow co-stars and they confirmed this. The man likes to live out the roles he plays,so they can feel organic. Rather then him just doing an accent and just acting out like some tough guy from early America.
Would love to see an examination/report on The Old Brewery
5 Points was made famous by the amount of crime and major mafia figures that it birthed.
I'm born and raised new Yorker ...at 64 I will never return to that cesspool
Crime in the 5 points still there !
Today, the Five Points neighborhood, once known as a center of vice, crime and debauchery throughout the nineteenth century is occupied by a center of justice - the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse.
Great history and commentary cheers
the irish were fleeing a genocide not famine.
I work as a multimedia artist for a museum. I love your work. Where do you source your historical clip? Looking for some resources.
If Charles Dickens thought it was bad, it was bad!
This is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen
Let's go 🔥
About time..great movie ...420
Absolutely captivating!! Thanks for this!
I liked the Scorsese film, & I keep a DVD of it to check out from time to time.
But I thought the film strayed from the Asbury book, which was fascinating. I had hoped to see more depictions of actual characters detailed by Herbert Asbury in actual photographs & recountings: like Red Rocks O’Farrell & Big Josh Hines, whose stories must’ve been at least as colorful as Bill the Butcher’s.
But I imagine getting actual court records & police files on “ancient” NY criminal gangs was just too much-so, fiction. It’s too bad nobody bothered piecing these various bands & groups of people together in the 1940s & ‘50s for film.
Not only would it have spared us a tonnage of Al Capone & Dillinger ‘moovies,’ but it might’ve gone a long way toward dispelling the very conditions and environmental factors H. Asbury wrote his study about, graphically depicting the types of derelict, dysfunctional neighborhoods that generate crime & criminality, which by this date, should’ve been eliminated entirely.
Instead, the society that isolated immigrants & held them impoverished nearly 200 years ago keeps replicating THAT formula with alarming accuracy based on race.
I believe the “criminologists” & sociology scholars who were observant of crime, including Charles Dickens, had real insights & potential step-stones of solutions which have never been correctly applied in order to eradicate second-to-fifth-class citizenship in any serious manner.
Just like measles, rubella, smallpox, & sewage contamination, crime-&-poverty as a phenom could’ve been contained, prevented from spreading, & virtually wiped-out systemically by an ethical structuring of meting-out actual Justice, guaranteeing an end to abuse & oppression, & providing constructive help where it’s most needed.
There’s just something Roman Empire resembling about desperately depending on Crime, Injustice & fossil-fueled combustible engines all these decades outside that era. ⚖️🌷
Nice video, though! The old photos & street markers were thoughtfully done!
I'd love to see the movie you would make.
The solutions to homelessness and crime are everywhere, but the government and industry types seem to be intentionally creating more crime and homelessness, rather than having half a heart, or 10% of a brain.
Charles Dickens musta been a Mets Fan!?! PRICELESS!
He didn't mention the Irish gang with the BEST name: "The Plug Uglies". So called because they "plug" their oversized bowler hats with various types of soft stuffing and then pull the hats down as low as they possibly could without completely covering their eyes. It was essentially a ghetto helmet that offered at least some kind of protection from their enemies waylaying brickbats left and right. The Plug Uglies were, in addition to their headware, known for another fiendish practice extremely common in their ranks: pushing long nails through the toe of their boots. They would often kick a downed rival to death with the nails. They also had a few of the most well known and feared female gangsters in the 5 points amongst their numbers. One of the worst and most infamous housing tenements called the "Old Brewery" - saw a murder every single night for 3 consecutive years.
That's a rumor, no official record of them having a murder every single night. Not that it couldn't happen just not substantiated, kind of a tale.
One of my favorite movies. Thanks for doing this vid. Brings back good memories.
Something not mentioned but pertinent would be how much of a large gang or faction culture existed in the Ireland the new immigrants were coming from. At this time and especially before it wasn't at all uncommon for there to be large brawls featuring thousands across ireland to the point people came out in droves to watch. This is a cultural context many of the irish would have brough with them and used to survive such a brutal place.
What ? Are you talking about the battles with English forces ? Or clan fights .,or just couple fights ? Irish were in middle of famine so not sure much fighting going on in Ireland
@@ko0974 it definitely quieted down, but there is a LONG documented history of dueling and faction fighting in ireland from at least the 16th century onward. it obviously had died down to something less by the mid 19th century than before the 1800 acts of union, however it never went away or taken out of Irish culture at that time. it was only when the famines happened that it actually put any dent into it to any degree. but it sure as hell wasnt gone at the time depicted in the films. Especially immigrants who had been there a while. they would have known people who fought and died in faction fights. if you have any interest in the topic there is a LOT of documentation and new paper articles about it. the fights often included hundreds or thousands of men and just as many or more spectators would go to watch. it was especially prevalent in the south like in muenster and cork
@@ko0974Faction fighting was a regular feature of Irish life in the 1800s - at least 40 people died in one faction fight in Ballyeagh Strand in 1834
@christopherlynch9006 yeah I read about that thanks 35 of them drowned. Feuding families, escalated to mass brawls didn't generally end with deaths but alot of injuries. Very similar to how travellers call each other for a fight , and both sides meet at a designated Area...or when two feuding families meet at funerals and weddings .
Once saw bacterioochht ,..beating with sticks, it came back to me!
Very good commentary
So it smelled like Jersey? Terrifying.
NY'ers complaining about smell is the most hilarious hypocrisy ever displayed.
Right? The smell from NY subways always takes me a week to adjust too.
@@albow4oops5 Fr
One my favorite movies with one of my favorite characters "The Butcher" Wild Bill
ENOUGH ABOUT THE RACISM... I'm so sick of that word and the victim mentality....
Let me guess you're white
I just want to comment, keep doing what your doing and feeding me weird history.