# Headless Horseman **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 1999, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906 "1999-11-20T17:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/1 "1999-11-20T17:34:00Z")
In yesterday’s Sun-Times review of Sleepy Hollow, Roger Ebert writes: > [@](#): > > No power on earth could drag from me the identity of the unbilled actor who plays the Horseman when he has a head. But you’ll agree that he is the only logical choice. No. He can’t mean who I think he means, can he? ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/2 "1999-11-20T17:36:00Z")
Well, I called the psychic hotline to try to figure out who you were thinking of, and they told me to avoid Libras and to fear death by water. Some help they were. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/3 "1999-11-20T17:41:00Z")
If you don’t want to know who the actor is, skip this posting… It’s Christopher Walken. I know because Roger Ebert was the only critic who DIDN’T give this away in the reviews. Interestingly (to me, anyway), Christopher Walken is ALSO an Astorian. That is, he was born and raised in my old neighborhood of Astoria (Queens), New York. His family owned the nicest bakery around, and my family often got their birthday cakes there. (No, I never knew him personally!) Actually, how Ebert concluded that Walken was ideally suited to play a Hessian soldier is beyond me. In any case, I suspect Washington Irving would be either amused or aghast at how seriously film adapters have taken the headless horseman aspect of the story. Irving was, first and foremost, a humorist, and it’s pretty clear in his story that there ISN’T a real headless horseman. Ichabod Crane was a superstitious dork who was scared out of town by Brom Bones, the town’s resident practical joker. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/4 "1999-11-20T17:49:00Z")
Thanks, Astorian. I agree, I don’t get Ebert’s reference either. And here I thought he meant… Oh well, never mind. If I had been right, it would have been seriously twisted. Appropriate, but twisted. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/5 "1999-11-21T06:29:00Z")
Walken always plays a great maniacal madman. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/6 "1999-11-20T20:14:00Z")
I love Walken’s psychotics, but he also used his masklike face superbly in the TV movies **Sarah, Plain and Tall** (1991) and its sequel **Skylark** (1993), both with Glenn Close. (They did another “installment” this year, but I haven’t seen it.) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/7 "1999-11-20T22:22:00Z")
Well, I saw it last night, good movie if you’re into that sort of stuff, like me. Yes, it’s to be taken as a serious ghost story, it is Timothy Burton after all. He must’ve found Washington Irving too monotonous 😉 Larry ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 1999, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/8 "1999-11-20T23:14:00Z")
Irving based his story on a real legend. huh? an authentic folk tale how about that? That’s brtter,thanx. So i guess burton’s is based on the legaend as reported by Irving. Come on Random WHO were you thinking of? It can’t be as twisted as some of the guys I have come up with. BTW What is it with Washington Irving how come his name is backwards? I mean his last name is a first name and… I guess upper new york is back east but is it that oriental? * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/9 "1999-11-21T04:53:00Z")
I saw it last night too, and for me the ridiculous makeup they had poor Walken (and I’m a fan of this great American actor) wearing was one of the very few low points of this movie. The guy was supposed to play a Hessian; they should have had him all pale and Aryan-like. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/10 "1999-11-21T10:24:00Z")
In an interview with a SF magazine, Walken was asked what his best role was, and his answer: _Puss In Boots_. Nobody has seen this movie. Well, I’ve seen it, and he’s right - it is his best role ever! He is so effing brilliant in it! Watch it, I guarantee you’ll love it, if you’re into Fairy Tales made real that is. * * * -PIGEONMAN- Hero For A New Millennium! [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/11 "1999-11-21T10:42:00Z")
Thanks for the suggestion Guanolad, I am always on the lookout for quality obscure movies. And yes, I agree that Walkens’ makeup was overdone, Larry ---
**Author:** ![Ken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cc9497/32.png) [@Ken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/12 "1999-11-21T14:49:00Z")
I actually know the husband and wife team who wrote and directed _Puss in Boots_. In addition to Walker, it also has Sean Connery’s son it in. Interestingly, much of it was shot in Israel. If you like _Puss in Boots_, theres also an adaption of Beauty and the Beast made by the same husband and wife team. ---
**Author:** ![Ken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cc9497/32.png) [@Ken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 1999, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/13 "1999-11-21T14:52:00Z")
Oh, I don’t know where these movies are available anymore. But if anyone wants to try to get a copy, email and I will contact the director to see if he knows where one might obtain a copy. ---
**Author:** ![Flypsyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Flypsyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flypsyde)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/14 "1999-11-22T14:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, I called the psychic hotline to try to figure out who you were thinking of, and they told me to avoid Libras and to fear death by water. Well, then, DB, guess I’ll just sit on the opposite side of the bar on the 11th, huh? * * * And the problem with small furry animals in corners is that, just occasionally, one of them’s a mongoose. Terry Pratchett, _Witches Abroad_ ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/15 "1999-11-23T19:17:00Z")
I haven’t seen the film, but I’ve seen the billboards advertising it. Christina Ricci is showing a LOT of cleavage in that ad. She’s certainly grown since _The Addams Family_. 🙂 * * * Fighting my own ignorance since 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/16 "1999-11-23T20:04:00Z")
I have not seen the movie, but have read the story and saw the preview last night before _American Beauty_ – _Constable_ Ichabod Crane? In from New York to investigate a string of murders? What is that, _Die Hard In Sleepy Hollow_? I had to laugh. I’ll bow to the wisdom of those of you who have seen the flick, but it sounded a little too much like a hatchet (ha!) job of the real story, a la Demi Moore’s _The Scarlet Letter_. * * * Jodi _Fiat Justitia_ ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/headless-horseman/4906/17 "1999-11-23T22:05:00Z")
Well, Jodi, it’s Tim Burton taking an American folk tale and turning it into a ghost story. If you’re not cool with that you probably won’t like it, but, IMHO he did a pretty good job for what he was trying to do. I was skeptical too as I knew enough of the story to know they were WAY out in left field, but Johnny Depp was great! And yes, Jab1, the cleavage wranglers earned their money on this one. Larry