"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is my all-time favorite Halloween story, and I was eager to see this version since I believed Jeff Goldblum would be an excellent Ichabod Crane. In that one respect, and that one part ONLY, I was not disappointed. Everything ELSE, however, was just plain WRONG, starting right from the opening shot. "Sleepy Hollow" is a HALLOWEEN story, and as such is supposed to be set during the peak of autumn, late October. However, this version opens on a snowy, wintery scene, and we later learn that the Van Tassels' party preceding the chase scene is a "winter ball," not the harvest festival it is supposed to be. Speaking of the Van Tassels...the casting of Katrina is absolutely wrong as well. She is supposed to be just 18 and a blonde beauty, not some dark, late-middle aged hag whose hair is already greying. Brom is also played wrong as well, since he is supposed to also be young & the extremely popular town jock, not some pudgy middle-aged loser. Also, the story is supposed to be strictly a love triangle between these three; this version adds in another woman with no basis in the original story. The ending, too, is completely wrong, as Ichabod is NOT supposed to get the girl...in fact, he is supposed to vanish from Sleepy Hollow entirely! I wanted to rate this a 1, but Goldblum earned it the two additional stars. If you are looking for an ACCURATE retelling of Washington Irving's classic, I recommend you watch the 1999 Hallmark version starring Brent Carver instead.
Review of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
(1980 TV Movie)
Goldblum is the ONLY redeeming feature
27 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers