Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury Essay Example

THE GANGS OF NEW YORK, written by Herbert Asbury, was used as the basis for the movie GANGS of NEW YORK, a gangster film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. Filmed in Rome, Gangs covers a period of New York City's history, from the 1840's through to the bloody Draft Riots of 1863, at a time when graft and corruption permeated every level of government including the police department.
The movie's main plot revolves around revenge and the feuding between the gangs controlling the Bowery and the Five Points area of lower Manhattan and culminates with the Civil War draft riots. The two major political parties, Tammany Hall (Democratic based) and the Native Americans (Know-Nothing Party), used gangs as enforcers for the plundering of public funds and to gain control of the city. The movie is a fictional drama loosely based on actual historical events and figures.
The depictions in the movie showing the discrimination against the Irish immigrants, the draft riots and the backdrop of New York City circa 1860's were fairly representative of real events. The script writers rearranged history in order to present as many interesting characters and events as is possible within a two hour and 40 minute time frame. The characters in the movie were either fictional, such as Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), Amsterdam Vallon (Leo DiCaprio) and Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson), or fictionalized versions of real people. The feel and flavor of New York City during the middle 1800's was captured by the movie through the use of excellent cinematography and the creation of a movie set based on actual photographs of the real Five Points.
Four of the main characters: William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), Boss Tweed (Jim Broadbent), Happy Jack (John C. Reilly), and Monk McGinn (Brendan Gleeson) were based on actual people but they existed in different time frames. William Cutting was based on William Poole "Bill the Butcher", a