Happy Birthday, Washington Irving

[filkertom]

In 1783. Damn, but I do loves me some Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Not sure which one I like better, though.

How about you -- which do you prefer? And, which film adaptation of Sleepy Hollow do you like best -- the Disney animated, the Tim Burton... or the one you forgot, the 1980 TV version with Dick Butkus as Brom Bones, Meg Foster as Katrina, and Jeff Goldblum as Ichabod Crane?

Comments

[adamselzer.livejournal.com]

I'm a real, real sucker for Legend of Sleepy Hollow; read it every year (and occasionally get asked about it on the ghost tours I run, several hundred miles from Tarrytown). Here're the version I know of (not counting storybooks, radio dramas, etc)



WILL ROGERS VERSION (silent film, 1920's)
Will Rogers does not make a good Ichabod Crane. I haven't seen a good enough print of this one to comment on it reliably, but the lack of technology meant that the chase scene had to be done in the daylight, which just doesn't work.

Iwerks version (cartoon, 1930's)
Too silly to be all that great, but okay.
Oddly, this and the Will Rogers version are the only ones in which the horseman doesn't turn out to be real.

Disney version (cartoon, 1949)
Surprisingly faithful to Irving's story (and the only version that takes advantage of Irving's description of Ichabod as a huge eater) is also still just about the best. The middle section gets a bit dull, but the opening is fun and the ending (from the party to the chase) is unforgettable - genuinely spooky, suspenseful, and still good fun.

Jeff Goldblum version (film, 1980)
Goldblum is a great choice to play Crane, and there are some good, spooky scenes here - but it's padded all to hell. It's hard, after all, to turn a 20 page story into a 90 minute film. And, outside of some highlights, this version is a flop.

Odyssey Channel version (TV film, 1999)
The most faithful of the full-length films, this expands a bit on the Katrina character, making her more worldly, and on Ichabod, really playing up the fact that he was really a dick (you always have to make him either a bumbling oaf ar a total jerk - and you can do both without veering from the source materal a bit). Symbollically, of course, he represents the outsider in the village who had to be expelled. This one plays that up a lot - and, besides the embellishments, follows Irving's text to the letter, even having the story be related to one Diedrich Knickerbocker (from whom Irving claimed to have gotten the story). Still, there's something missing from this. It never gets to be that much fun, and never gets to be all that scary.

Tim Burton version (film, 1999)
Of all the versions, this veers farthest from the Irving story - but is also quite possibly the best. Though it devolves into a supernatural mystery, and has little to do with Irving's story other than the names of characters, Burton nails the atmosphere, making this the coolest travesty ever. The mystery story is much more involving than the original, when fleshed out into a full-length movie. Burton was clearly more influenced by the Disney version than the text - and it serves him well. Prior to this version, the general rule of thumb was that the further you veer from the original, the worse the result.

The Holllow (premiered on ABC Family tonight)
A present-day sequel with a descendant of Ichabod who is supposed to be 16 but looks 26. There are times when this isn't much more than another young adult horror film, with a lot of predictable scenes, but it's still fun for fans of the story, since the writers clearly read the original text enough to throw in some in-jokes (such as setting the scene in Knickerbocker High School). With better sets, a higher budget and some revisions to the plot and script, this could have been a real corker of a movie. This is the only "sequel" I can think of offhand, except for an episode of "The Real Ghostbusters" from the 80's and a better-than-average episode of "Scooby Doo" from the 70's.

Note: this wins the prize for cheesiest looking horseman.

TRIVIA: While there WAS a real person named Ichabod Crane, he wasn't a schoolmaster. He was an army guy that Irving knew - and when he read the story, he was really pissed off. Kids in New York occasionally drink at his grave on Staten Island.

very OT comment but...

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

I need to know before 6:00pm EST - what's your shirt size?

or would you NOT be interested in a STS-1 25th anniversary commemorative T-shirt?

Sizes from adult small to adult xxxl. $5.00 each.

yay, NASA Swag.

Re: very OT comment but...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

5x, if possible. 4x, if necessary.

Re: very OT comment but...

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

arg.

3x is the highest they list.

*grumbles*

Re: very OT comment but...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Then don't worry about it. Thanks for thinking of me, though.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

The Burton film is very entertaining and creepy, I like that.. having Christina Ricci in a bossom enhancing corset isn't pad either.

The Disney version is the most faithful version made. The original story is fairly light hearted and tongue in cheek.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Don't think I've ever seen the Dick Butkus version.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

I'm most familiar with the Disney version, but MiGHOD: Jeff Goldblum as Ichabod? How perfect!!

Sleepy Hollow all the way!

[pickledcritter.livejournal.com]

However, the version I remember best was a vinyl recording - I THINK it was put out (may have been a re-issue) in the early 70s - at least that was when I was listening to it. I remember distinctly the clip-clopping of the hooves as Ichy got closer and closer to the church bridge and the narration got more frantic and frantic until...

I also distinctly remember the narrator's tone and inflection when he said "...was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin"

I wish I knew anything more about the record - I'd love to find it (or a digital copy of it), but I'd know for damn sure if I heard it again - no matter how many times I listened to it, no matter how much I had memorized the blinkin' thing, the last 5 minutes ALWAYS got my heart pounding :)