The View From The Mountain

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Sleepy Hollow , dealing with the legend of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, which was one of the few folk stories that actually managed to creep me out as a kid. The film takes place in 1799, and recasts Crane as a constable with the New York City Police Department. Crane is played to jittery perfection by Johnny Depp, who deftly plays the duality of a skittish, squeamish man who still bravely tries to get the job done by tirelessly seeking justice for the victims of senseless crimes. To this end, Crane constantly pushes a scientific approach to police investigation, about a century or so before scientific police investigations would finally take hold. Endlessly tired of Crane’s crusading, a local judge (played by Hammer horror legend Christopher Lee in an effective cameo) orders him to the Hudson Highlands town of Sleepy Hollow, which has suffered a series of murders. Perhaps Crane’s reliance on newfangled science might solve the...