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CNN Live Saturday
'Gangs of New York' Showcases Ugly Side of America
Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Now, director Martin Scorsese's film epic "Gangs of New York" is arriving at the big screen this weekend. It has got five Golden Globes nominations to its credit already. The movie shows that the familiar ugly phenomenon of urban gang violence is nothing new in America. Here is Jason Bellini.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mid-19th century New York as portrayed by director Martin Scorsese. Novelist and historian Kevin Baker read the book "The Gangs of New York" as a child. It sparked in his imagination a long-forgotten neighborhood called Five Points.
(on camera): Didn't they want to preserve the memory of this historic place?
KEVIN BAKER, HISTORIAN: They wanted to wipe out any memory of the Five Points, any memory of the crime that went down here and the poverty that went on down here.
BELLINI (voice-over): The set for the film, constructed in a studio in Italy, was made large and historically accurate as a backdrop to a love story, a coming of age story, a tale of revenge and ethnic turf wars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has taken a -- what was really a -- an actual battle between two gangs that actually took place in the 1850s and relocated it to the 1860s, 1863, '64, so he can basically double up that story with that of the Draft Riots of the Civil War, where that same neighborhood erupted in anti-draft fever and violence.
BELLINI: The film references oddities defining of a world where violence was commonplace, like this hall for the sport of rat baiting.
BAKER: The object was betting on how fast it would take a trained terrier to kill 100 rats.
BELLINI (on camera): That sounds lovely.
BAKER: Yes, it was a lovely sport.
This is where you would have gang brawls, muggings, even killings, all sorts of things going on here.
BELLINI: Do you think the city realizes the irony when they put a courthouse here in this lawless area?
BAKER: Oh, I think very much so. I mean, irony nothing; they really wanted to, like, assert their authority here, period, to show that they were in charge still.
BELLINI (voice-over): However anachronistically portrayed, it's a part of New York history of which few are aware.
(on camera): What happened here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Couldn't tell you.
BELLINI (voice-over): A narrative, says Baker, unfitting of the image of the land of liberty and opportunity.
BAKER: It goes against the basic idea of what we think of as the immigrant story, that it was easier if we just came over here, worked hard and made their way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GANGS OF NEW YORK")
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: I'm just trying to make my way is all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKER: You had to fight your way in to be an American.
BELLINI: A snapshot of an American street scene that has long since been paved over.
Jason Bellini, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Now, director Martin Scorsese's film epic "Gangs of New York" is arriving at the big screen this weekend. It has got five Golden Globes nominations to its credit already. The movie shows that the familiar ugly phenomenon of urban gang violence is nothing new in America. Here is Jason Bellini.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mid-19th century New York as portrayed by director Martin Scorsese. Novelist and historian Kevin Baker read the book "The Gangs of New York" as a child. It sparked in his imagination a long-forgotten neighborhood called Five Points.
(on camera): Didn't they want to preserve the memory of this historic place?
KEVIN BAKER, HISTORIAN: They wanted to wipe out any memory of the Five Points, any memory of the crime that went down here and the poverty that went on down here.
BELLINI (voice-over): The set for the film, constructed in a studio in Italy, was made large and historically accurate as a backdrop to a love story, a coming of age story, a tale of revenge and ethnic turf wars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has taken a -- what was really a -- an actual battle between two gangs that actually took place in the 1850s and relocated it to the 1860s, 1863, '64, so he can basically double up that story with that of the Draft Riots of the Civil War, where that same neighborhood erupted in anti-draft fever and violence.
BELLINI: The film references oddities defining of a world where violence was commonplace, like this hall for the sport of rat baiting.
BAKER: The object was betting on how fast it would take a trained terrier to kill 100 rats.
BELLINI (on camera): That sounds lovely.
BAKER: Yes, it was a lovely sport.
This is where you would have gang brawls, muggings, even killings, all sorts of things going on here.
BELLINI: Do you think the city realizes the irony when they put a courthouse here in this lawless area?
BAKER: Oh, I think very much so. I mean, irony nothing; they really wanted to, like, assert their authority here, period, to show that they were in charge still.
BELLINI (voice-over): However anachronistically portrayed, it's a part of New York history of which few are aware.
(on camera): What happened here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Couldn't tell you.
BELLINI (voice-over): A narrative, says Baker, unfitting of the image of the land of liberty and opportunity.
BAKER: It goes against the basic idea of what we think of as the immigrant story, that it was easier if we just came over here, worked hard and made their way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GANGS OF NEW YORK")
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: I'm just trying to make my way is all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKER: You had to fight your way in to be an American.
BELLINI: A snapshot of an American street scene that has long since been paved over.
Jason Bellini, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
