Another Scorcese gangster masterpiece!

Rating: Null/10 (5 January 2003)

Gangs of New York is one of the best films of 2002 thus far. Martin Scorsese delivered! Leonardo DiCaprio was great as the young, vengeful Amsterdam Vallon and Cameron Diaz as his love interest, the beautiful Jenny Everdeane. Aside from DiCaprio and Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis was the one who really stole the show as the notorious William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting. However despite a number of historical accuracies in the film, Scorsese has credibly shown us one example of the early beginnings of mob violence in America. It showed us who was the real gangster behind the bloody street violence in the Five Points-Tammany Hall and that baby-kissing William "Boss" Tweed, portrayed well by Jim Broadbent. I also want to give a little inside information about the character of Daniel Day-Lewis. The real-life William Cutting was William Poole. Bill the Butcher was one of the gang bosses for the Bowery Boys in the lower east side of New York City (Manhattan). He was a butcher as well as a savage brawler and strongarm for xenophobic parties like the Native Americans and Know-Nothings. If you are interested, Gangs of New York is the film to see.