The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1999) YTS

Reviewed by Wuchak 7 / 10

**_The television version is faithful to the classic

**_The television version is faithful to the classic tale compared to Depp’s “Sleepy Hollow”_** In 1791, a charismatic but pompous schoolmaster from Hartford, Ichabod Crane (Brent Carver), arrives in the hamlet of Tarrytown, 26 miles north of Manhattan. He wastes no time in vying for the hand of the lovely Katrina (Rachelle Lefevre), but is opposed by the blacksmith, Brom Bones (Paul Lemelin). In the background is the scary legend of a spectral Hessian, who lost his head in the Revolutionary War. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1999) details the 1820 short story by Washington Irving and debuted on television four weeks before the release of Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow.” It follows Irving’s tale pretty closely whereas Burton’s movie was a dynamic reimagining. Obviously, the latter is the more all-around entertaining film with its blockbuster budget, but this one is effective enough for those interested in the original story and don’t mind TV-budgeted limitations. Redhead Rachelle was 20 during shooting and a highlight. I also enjoyed the going back in time to the 1790’s and getting an idea of what life was like in the Northeast back then. It runs 1 hour, 31 minutes, and was shot in Montréal, Québec. GRADE: B

Reviewed by Blazehgehg 6 / 10

Surprisingly great adaptation let down in the end

Somehow I've become a dude who has watched four or five different adaptations of Sleepy Hollow, now. A lot of them feel like they exist in the shadow of the stellar Disney short, but this one ends up something special.It's much more a period piece. Harvard educated Ichabod Crane arrives at the podunk farm town of Sleepy Hollow. We're in the shadow of The Revolutionary War, and many of the older folk associate Ichabod's demeanor with that of the enemy. But they need a teacher and he's the only applicant. Even though the pay isn't to Ichabod's liking, he soon finds his education affords him a strange power over some folk in Sleepy Hollow, and thus everybody is forced to settle with what they're given, for better and worse.I appreciate how genuinely three-dimensional these characters feel. Again, a lot of adaptations kind of exist in the simplicity of the Disney version, but here you really get the sense that everything is part of a larger tapestry. Katrina Van Tassel is planning for the future, which for Brom Bones means settling down and starting a family -- but Katrina wants to travel, something Ichabod taps into with his stories of far off lands he's read about in books. Everybody's got something going on.Shoutouts to this movie also making the story of the Headless Horseman feel like a proper ghost story. A lot of them either go way too overboard with making the Horseman feel like this larger than life presence that dominates the whole story, or they just assume he's naturally scary on his own and don't do anything interesting with him. Here, the tale of the horseman is given just enough dues to make it creepy without casting its shadow over the whole movie. You know it's coming, you know this story, but our characters are given a lot of breathing room around the headless horseman to let it simmer in the background.And, just, good performances, too. A lot of these folks aren't Academy Award winning actors or anything but they fill their roles very well. Rachelle Lefevre gives a great sassy bite to Katrina, Paul Lemelin's Brom Bones is a warm-hearted rogue. Brent Carver as Ichabod Crane channels that same kind of silly infatuation with "class" that you'd get out of Frasier and Niles Crane. He's a dork, but in a certain world, he is king of the dorks.Really, though, this is a made-for-TV movie, and eventually that catches up with it in the end. Ichabod's ride home after Katrina's harvest party wants to be spooky, but its full of limp action and cheap effects.It gets so close, but the flat ending really shakes how enjoyable the lead up is.

Reviewed by Andy-296 5 / 10

Faithful but dull

This film is more faithful to the original Washington Irving story that the Tim Burton movie, but this doesn't make it necessarily more entertaining. In fact, this movie is pretty dull. The unknown actor portraying Ichabod Crane doesn't help a lot, either. (Other actors in the movie are more appealing). Still, if you have read the book, you might be interested to watch this version.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1999

Action / Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1999

Action / Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery

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Movie Reviews

**_The television version is faithful to the classic

Surprisingly great adaptation let down in the end

Faithful but dull

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