《Gangs Of New York》　紐約黑幫　紐約城的古老風貌

No.096　《Gangs Of New York》　紐約黑幫　紐約城的古老風貌

英文導讀

Gangs of New York is a 2002 American historical drama film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City, directed by Martin Scorsese, and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 non-fiction book, The Gangs of New York. It was made in Cinecittà, Rome, distributed by Miramax Films.

The violent rise of gangland power in New York City at a time of massive political corruption and the city's evolution into a cultural melting pot set the stage for this lavish historical epic, which director Martin Scorsese finally brought to the screen almost 30 years after he first began to plan the project. In 1846, as waves of Irish immigrants poured into the New York neighborhood of Five Points, a number of citizens of British and Dutch heritage who were born in the United States began making an open display of their resentment toward the new arrivals. William Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), better known as "Bill the Butcher" for his deadly skill with a knife, bands his fellow "Native Americans" into a gang to take on the Irish immigrants; the immigrants in turn form a gang of their own, "The Dead Rabbits," organized by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). After an especially bloody clash between the Natives and the Rabbits leaves Vallon dead, his son goes missing; the boy ends up in a brutal reform school before returning to the Five Points in 1862 as Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio). Now a strapping adult who has learned how to fight, Amsterdam has come to seek vengeance against Bill the Butcher, whose underworld control of the Five Points through violence and intimidation dovetails with the open corruption of New York politician "Boss" Tweed (Jim Broadbent). Amsterdam gradually penetrates Bill the Butcher's inner circle, and he soon becomes his trusted assistant. Amsterdam also finds himself falling for Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), a beautiful but street-smart thief who was once involved with Bill. Amsterdam is learning a great deal from Bill, but before he can turn the tables on the man who killed his father, Amsterdam's true identity is exposed, even though he has concealed it from nearly everyone, including Jenny.

The film made $77,812,000 in Canada and the United States. It took in $23,763,699 in Japan and $16,358,580 in the United Kingdom. Worldwide the film grossed a total of $193,772,504.

Reviews of the eventual release in 2002 were generally positive, with Daniel-Day Lewis' performance receiving the most praise by critics —the review aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes reporting 75% of the 202 reviews that they tallied were favorable. The RT Critical Consensus reads, "Though flawed, the sprawling, messy Gangs of New York is redeemed by impressive production design and Day-Lewis's electrifying performance."

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Martin Scorsese), Best Art Direction (Dante Ferretti), Best Original Song (U2 for "The Hands That Built America"), Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Cinematography (Michael Ballhaus), Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell), Best Editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), Best Sound (Tom Fleischman, Eugene Gearty, Ivan Sharrock), Best Original Screenplay (Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, Kenneth Lonergan).

獲獎情況

2003年第75屆奧斯卡：最佳影片提名、最佳導演提名、最佳男主角提名、最佳原創(chuàng)劇本提名。

影片信息

導演：馬丁·斯科塞斯

編?。航芤?middot;考克斯、斯蒂文·澤里安

主演：萊昂納多·迪卡普里奧、丹尼爾·戴-劉易斯、卡梅隆·迪亞茨

類型：劇情、歷史、犯罪

制片國家（地區(qū)）：美國、意大利

上映日期：2002-12-20（美國）

片長：167分鐘

又名：《紐約風云》

劇情簡介

劇中，紐約的黑幫主要由意大利裔的瓦龍領(lǐng)導的意大利派和愛爾蘭裔的比爾（丹尼爾·戴-劉易斯飾）領(lǐng)導的愛爾蘭派組成。瓦龍被冷血兇殘、殺人不眨眼的屠夫“比爾”暗殺，其子阿姆斯特朗（萊昂納多·迪卡普里奧飾）被送進監(jiān)牢。

懷著強烈的復仇愿望，阿姆斯特朗熬過了10年牢獄之苦。在復仇中，結(jié)識了女賊珍妮·埃佛迪安（卡梅隆·迪亞茲），她幫他接近比爾。為了復仇，阿姆斯特朗隱姓埋名加入了比爾領(lǐng)導的愛爾蘭派黑幫，擁戴自己的殺父仇人。

隨著他越接近比爾，就越發(fā)覺殺掉比爾并不能使所有受迫害的人得到解脫，因為黑幫背后還有強大的政治力量支持。于是一個單純的為父報仇的計劃，變成了追求平等與自由的集體反抗。

制作花絮

在斯科塞斯和拳擊顧問的指導下，萊昂納多·迪卡普里奧和丹尼爾·戴-劉易斯曾用數(shù)月時間完善各自身手。

片中的屠夫比爾源自當時的紐約本地人比爾·普爾，普爾曾為屠夫，后來成為職業(yè)拳手。

為更好地塑造角色，扮演屠夫比爾的丹尼爾·戴-劉易斯曾跟隨一名屠夫?qū)W習屠宰手藝。

片中有臺詞的角色多達100個，背景演員的工時總計超過22000小時。除了部分意大利人之外，劇組還招募了很多在當?shù)伛v扎的美軍士兵作臨時演員。

影片拍攝共耗時137天。為了讓老紐約背景下的人物能夠字正腔圓，劇組請來方言教練蒂姆·莫妮科教授演員19世紀曼哈頓方言和當時各種黑道行話。

斯科塞斯曾雇用一名意大利神偷向卡梅隆·迪亞茨傳授扒竊技巧。

重點學習

The city's evolution into a cultural melting pot set the stage for this lavish historical epic

文中的set the stage for是英語中的一個固定搭配，它是“為…做好準備，為…創(chuàng)造條件，為…打下基礎(chǔ)”的意思，比如：Fed officials have become more confident recently that they have stabilized the economy and set the stage for recovery.（美聯(lián)儲官員最近更加自信地認為，他們已經(jīng)穩(wěn)定了經(jīng)濟，為復蘇打下了基礎(chǔ)。）

As waves of Irish immigrants poured into the New York neighborhood of Five Points

Pour into在文中是“大量地進入，（使）川流不息地進入”的意思，比如：Letters have been pouring into the office complaining about this kind of refrigerator.（辦公室連續(xù)收到大批信件抱怨這種電冰箱。）另外，它還有“（使）流進…里；把…注入…中；倒入；射入”、“把（大量錢）投進…里”、“齊射；齊發(fā)”、“充分利用”等意思，比如：The peasants poured the grain into the elevator.（農(nóng)民們把谷物倒進倉里。）

單詞時間

gangland[?ɡæ?lænd] n. 黑社會；充斥盜匪的地區(qū)

corruption[k??r?p??n] n. 貪污，腐??；墮落

lavish[?lævi?] vt. 浪費；慷慨給予；濫用

resentment[ri?zentm?nt] n. 憤恨，怨恨

reform[ri?f?:m] n. 改革，改良；改正

vengeance[?vend??ns] n. 復仇；報復；報仇

intimidation[in?timi?dei??n] n. 恐嚇，威脅

penetrate[?penitreit] vt. 滲透；穿透；洞察

identity[ai?dent?ti] n. 身份；同一性，一致；特性；恒等式

redeem[ri?di:m] vt. 贖回；挽回；兌換；履行；補償；恢復

electrifying[i?lektrifaii?] adj. 令人振奮的；驚人的