Ichabod Crane - Adaptations in Other Media

Adaptations in Other Media

• Constable Ichabod Crane is a fictional character from the movie Sleepy Hollow, played by Johnny Depp. He is a New York policeman with an interest in science, sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a string of grisly murders to prove the merits of his style of investigation after he argues against the police's current methods. As in the original story, his horse is named Gunpowder. Ichabod's most notable traits in the movie include an ahead-of-his-time liking for post-mortem examinations and scientific methods, as well as his being very quirky and skittish, as well as disgusted by death and blood, despite his occupation. It is Ichabod who finally banishes the Hessian Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken) to Hell and sends Lady van Tassel (Miranda Richardson), the woman who has been controlling the undead rider, with him. Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci) is seen at the end of the movie going back to New York with Ichabod, along with a boy who helped Ichabod in the investigation.
• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), directed by James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, and Jack Kinney, produced by Walt Disney Productions, and packaged with a companion 30-minute short "Mr. Toad" based on Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Probably the best known version, as it ran for years as part of the television Halloween special Disney's Halloween Treat. This animated interpretation features Bing Crosby as the narrator and sole voice actor of the entire 30-minute piece and extends both the visually impressive Horseman's role and that of Brom Bones to include the latter as singer of the song about the Horseman's legend.
• A 1980 made-for-TV adaption of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, starring Jeff Goldblum, was produced by Hallmark.
• Ichabod Crane appeared in the Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode "The Tale of the Midnight Ride."
• Searching for Ichabod Crane (2005) is a short film by Sam Borowski about a young reporter who searches for Ichabod Crane, and eventually comes in contact with the apparition of the war hero.
• In 1999, a telefilm entitled The Legend of Sleepy Hollow aired on Odyssey starring Brent Carver as Ichabod Crane. It was filmed in Montreal.
• The 1999 computer animated FOX TV special The Night of the Headless Horseman featured William H. Macy as the voice of Crane.
• The 2004 TV movie The Hollow centers around a high school student named Ian Cranston, a descendant of Ichabod Crane.
• Rapper Lupe Fiasco's song "Dumb it Down" contains the lyrics, "And I'm brainless, which means I'm headless, like Ichabod Crane is".
• Hardcore band Motionless In White's Song "Undead Ahead" draws inspiration from "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow" as well, with the final line of the song being "Ichabod, Ichabod".
• Ichabod Crane, as a fictional character, is involved in the backstory of the DC villain Scarecrow, who as a youth was taunted with the character's name. Crane later turned into something of an inspiration for Scarecrow, who admired some of his qualities but abhorred his cowardice.