The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (TV Movie 1980)
Bekkah:
I think I did not understand that the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is not just a headless Ichabod Crane horsing around with a jack-o-lantern? I feel like elementary school through now has just completely misled me? In my mind, 1980 Jeff would the perfect Ichabod Crane as a tall, skinny weirdo. But, what happened during this movie? There was a lot of sexism, a healthy dose of racism, and not nearly enough spookiness. This is a TV movie and the fuzzy VHS-recorded-to-YouTube that we watched did give me warm feels of watching weird TV movies in my wood paneled den growing up. Points for that, points for early baby Jeff licking his lips as he always does, but that’s mostly it. I didn’t hate it, but I mostly feel confusion.
Danya:
This feels like a Scooby Doo episode crossed with an intro Gender Studies Course on Masculinities. The bully “bear of a man” versus Jeff’s “Lanky School Teacher/Poet”. In this version the softer dude gets the lady, but it’s kinda touch and go there for toxic masculinity. The picture quality of a youtube of a 1980s VHS cannot be underestimated. The darkness and inability to tell people apart did add to the general confusion about what was happening. Jeff was the calm spot in a sea of slapstick over acting, which is strange. I didn’t learn much about the motivation of the Headless Horseman. It was expecting an origin story of how this wacky guy came to be. But instead it’s farce. Considering I was texting voters all during this movie, the farce of the movie pairs nicely with the farce that is our election process. One more spooky movie to go!
4/10 Goldboooos
Angered that Katrina has grown fond of schoolmaster Crane, Brom Bones determines to scare off the interloper by filling his head with spooky tales of a Headless Horseman. Crane disparages the legends, until one fateful ride home in the dark of night.
Director: Henning Schellerup
Writers: Malvin Wald (teleplay), Jack Jacobs (teleplay)
Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Paul Sand, Meg Foster
