I was never a fan of the Harry Potter movies. Therefore, I can’t say much about the work of Sir Michael Gambon, who recently passed, in those movie. No, I knew him from movies like The Insider where he played Thomas Sandefur, the cutthroat head of tobacco company Brown & Williamson. Or there was his great role as one of the title characters in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. He played the “Thief” a London-area mobster Albert Spica who was so an unlikeable and detestable human being, it shows his range as an actor that he is now mostly remembered for playing a wizard in several kids’ movies.
Gambon became famous for his fudging of facts to keep his private life as private as possible. He had been married to mathematician Ann Miller from 1962 to 2002, but when questioned once about his wife, he responded bluntly, “What wife?” So, when he brought Philippa Hart, 25 years younger than he, to the set of Gosford Park one day, cast and crew didn’t know what to think when he said Hart was his girlfriend. Needless to say, this was before he divorced Miller.
Prior to playing Dumbledore, he had appeared as Baltus Van Tassel, a minor character in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” who was blown up as a crucial supporting character in Tim Burton’s loose horror adaptation Sleepy Hollow. It’s been years since I read the story but I don’t remember much of Baltus. He appears as an ancillary character in the Disney movie The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad as a very rich portly middle-aged man jovially smoking a pipe. I don’t know if Gambon saw this movie or used it as influence but you can tell in his performance there are similarities even though Baltus has little screen time.
Like Gambon himself, the movie fudges a lot of what was in the story. Sleepy Hollow is actually just a small glen outside the upstate New York town of Tarrytown. And Ichabod Crane was the new school headmaster of the town arriving at the beginning of the school year and attacting the eye of Baltus’ daughter Katrina. The story, even though it deals with the supernatural, has been said to mostly be about how rival Brom Bones used the tale of the Headless Horseman to drive away Ichabod so he can have Katrina (and Baltus’ wealth) to himself.
Burton’s movie, which he directed probably as a way to exorcise the demons he endured on the failed Superman Lives movie, is a throwback to the Hammer Film horror classics that inspired Burton. Christopher Lee appears in a cameo as the Burgomaster who sends Ichabod (Johnny Depp), now a NYC constable, to investigate a series of beheadings in Sleepy Hollow, which consists of mostly Dutch immigrants. The following will contain some spoilers. As the movie opens, Peter Van Garrett (Martin Landau) and his son are beheaded by the Horseman as they are trying to travel late at night.
When Ichabod arrives in the town, he discovers that Van Garrett had married a window, Emily Winship, who was also beheaded. He later discovers Winship was pregnant at the time of her death. Baltus (Gambon) seems to be the defacto leader of the town elders. He and his wife, Lady Mary (Miranda Richardson), who is the stepmother of Katrina (Christina Ricci), welcome Ichabod into their home as he is there to investigate the deaths.
However, the elders tell him that the killer’s identity is already known. And they tell him of a Hessian (Christopher Walken wonderfully cast) who fought alongside the British troops during the Revolutionary War with his sword and axe. But the Hessian was killed by the Colonial Army and beheaded and buried outside of town about 20 years earlier. Ichabod is a nervous person but he believes science is a way to solve the crimes despite the elders’ superstitions.
Other elders include the Magistrate Samuel Phillips (Richard Griffiths, who also appeared in the Harry Potter movies), Notary James Hardenbrook (Michael Gough, another Hammer vet actor in his final film role), Rev. Steenwyck (Jeffrey Jones) and Dr. Thomas Lancaster (Ian McDiarmid). Very soon, Ichabod begins to see that the elders may be correct as a sentry is killed and then Phillips, which he witnesses.
The sentry’s young son, Jonathan Masbeth (Mark Spalding), becomes Ichabod’s assistant, as he gets closer to Katrina, who seems to show an attraction to him as she has a cloud of mystery over her. Brom (Casper Vien Dien) sees Ichabod as a threat and scares him at night by pretending to the Horseman and throwing a flaming pumpkin at him, which is a nod to the Disney movie.
But we eventually learn that Ichabod had a troubled childhood. His mother (Lisa Marie) was involved in witchcraft, but was killed by her strict husband. This has led Ichabod to abandon his faith in both religion and the superstitions of magic. But as he begins to put the pieces together following being wounded by the Horseman when he attacks the midwife and her family, it all points to a conspiracy in which the elders are involved.
While this wasn’t Burton’s first R-rated movie, it’s probably his most violent in terms of blood and gore. By far, Mars Attacks! had more violence with A-listers (Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito and Pierce Brosnan as well as others) all being killed by MartiansBut that movie had more of a dark comedic appeal that was hit or miss. Burton seems to have learned the errors of his ways here. (However, I think the killing of the midwife’s son was heavily edited out where it’s implied off-screen).
When you have actors like Gambon, Griffiths, Walken and Landau all losing their heads in a movie, you have to handle it in a way where it’s not too gruesome and cruel but also where it has an impact. The script was written by Kevin Yagher (a special effects/make-up wizard who is a legend in the industry) and Andrew Kevin Walker (who wrote Se7en). It would be very easy for an inexperienced and less creative director to make the movie and tone way to dark and disturbing.
I think it Oliver Stone had made the movie like he was poised to do at one time with American Psycho, he’d have the people running from the theaters gagging and vomiting. There’s a playful B-movie feel to this movie with big names in roles they wouldn’t go near unless Burton and producer Francis Ford Coppola were attached. However, Burton later said Coppola was only involved in a minor capacity that he was unaware of while editing it. It’s basically a glorified slasher movie but it works primarily because all the actors understand the assignment.
I think it’s comical that Ichabod considers himself a man of science but gets repulsed easily by the sight of blood. He’s even scared of spiders no matter how small they are and how non-threatening and far away from him they are. And when the twist is revealed, it seems to follow the Law of the Most Extraneous Actor, but the twist is earned because of the set-up. What Burton and the rest have really created is a town that straight out of David Lynch and Twin Peaks with a town that has dirty secrets. The Horseman (portrayed in stunts by Ray Park) is not really the main villain as Ichabod discovers someone is using the Horseman to target certain people. as Ichabod discovers someone is using the Horseman to target certain people.
Even though Burton has been accused for having a racial bias, I wish he would make more darker movies like this. He came close with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. But his own style has inspired several imitators and some times he seems to be copying himself. I didn’t care much for Big Fish but Big Eyes was a wonderful movie that shows he is capable of versatility. And with the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice expected to premiere in 2024, time will tell what happens.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 