Continuity mistake: After Bill the Butcher stabs and beats Amsterdam's face badly (and brands him with a hot knife) notice how as time passes the wounds heal then reappear in varying degrees of severity. This is particularly true with the branding, which is almost absent by the end.
Continuity mistake: At several times during the movie, Butcher Bill's glass eye changes to what looks like a normal eye.
Other mistake: When Bill, Amsterdam and Tweed are standing on the docks, Bill mentions his father died in battle in 1814, 49 years before the movie takes place. Later, Bill tells Amsterdam that he's 47 years old. That means Bill's father died before he could have been conceived.
Revealing mistake: In the scene where Bill has Amsterdam on the table, he begins headbutting him. You don't even have to look closely to see that Amsterdam's head is obviously just a dummy head with hair sewn on it. You can even see Bill headbutting it, and the head bends a significant amount, just like rubber. If it were Amsterdam's actual head his skull would be shattered in several places and he'd be killed instantly.
Revealing mistake: In the first fight scene, Priest Vallon stabs a man from behind with his sword. You see the sword go under his arm where he holds it there.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bill is cutting up the pig and is about to show Amsterdam the "kill" spots, he wraps up a piece of the pig for an old woman standing nearby. He throws the meat to Amsterdam to give to her and then reaches to unsheath a knife strapped to his right side. After Amsterdam gives the woman the meat and turns back around the shot cuts back to Bill and he is seen unsheathing the same knife he was holding seconds before.
Continuity mistake: During the theater scene a man tries to murder Bill the Butcher but Amsterdam saves his life. As Amsterdam is wrestling with the culprit his hat falls off but in the next shot it's back on, then off again.
Continuity mistake: When Jenny tells Amsterdam that she's leaving for California, she is seen walking through a stone walkway. The camera angle changes and she is seen just turning around a corner and the walkway is nowhere to be seen.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the fight in the bar between Amsterdam and Bill's Irish henchman, Amsterdam is in four consecutive shots from two angles bent over in pain, leaning back, doubled over again, and leaning back again as Bill approaches him.
Factual error: The prayer uttered at the beginning of the movie ("Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil") was composed by Pope Leo XIII in the year 1884. The movie is set during the American Civil War in the 1860's.
Continuity mistake: The scene during the riot where Bill and Amsterdam are fighting in the smoke, Bill takes what looks like shrapnel to the side of his stomach, but when Bill and Amsterdam face off (standing on their knees) just before Amsterdam stabs Bill, you can see Bill's vest has no cuts or blood from the shrapnel he just pulled out of his gut (and it looks like he is wearing a new vest).
Revealing mistake: In the Five Points battle scene, in the beginning of the movie, look at Bill the Butcher's blades when he walks through the crowd towards Priest Vallon. There is no sign of blood on them, even after he stabs a lot of people.
Continuity mistake: During the funeral, when they are transporting the coffin in the street, there's a dog besides Bill the Butcher. He keeps changing place.
Other mistake: In the sequence where the "Natives" celebrate the 16th Anniversary of their victory over the "Dead Rabbits," we can see that the year is 1863 while the battle shown in the beginning of the movie happens in 1846. Shouldn't they have been celebrating 17th anniversary instead of a 16th?
Continuity mistake: When the four scapegoats are being hung, the man on the extreme left makes a speech. While this goes on, the man on his right has his noose tightly round his neck. When he finishes, the crowd clap and the hangman pull his hood down over his face the noose on the man next to him is still tight. The scene cuts to the front of the gallows, and the hangman now put the noose over the head of the man next to him.
Continuity mistake: When Jenny is picked as the queen at the stepping ken, as the older man walks up to her she is seen putting her hands on her waist. As the camera angle changes she is seen putting her hands on her waist again.
Revealing mistake: When Bill the Butcher kills Priest Vallon at the Five Points battle, the blood squeezes from Vallon's flank wound in an obviously fake way.
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam is fighting Bill's henchman, Bill tells his other men to get Amsterdam off the man. You see his other men reaching for Amsterdam and when the camera angle changes, you see them reaching for him again.
Continuity mistake: After saving Bill, Amsterdam is met by his father's old friend. As Amsterdam goes to walk away, he is grabbed by the friend. Camera angle changes and he is seen being grabbed again.
Continuity mistake: When Amsterdam and Jenny are kissing after the dance, He tells her to wait and she is seen lying on top of him. Camera angle changes and she is now seen lying next to him.
Answer: Well, rather obviously, Amsterdam hates him because he killed his father. I mean, wouldn't you? It hardly matters that the fight was fair and that Bill showed respect about it, Amsterdam's not exactly likely to turn round, say "oh, that's alright then" and walk away. William Cutting (or William Poole, as he was in reality) was a ruthless, vicious man, who pretty much stopped at nothing to cement his control of the area. Whether he was actually worse than many of the others is questionable, but the film is based on Amsterdam's view of things - in that view, Bill is the enemy and we're supposed to see him as such.
Tailkinker ★