Groundhog Day (film)

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Groundhog Day

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Harold Ramis
Produced by Trevor Albert
Harold Ramis
Written by Danny Rubin (story)
Danny Rubin and
Harold Ramis (screenplay)
Starring Bill Murray,
Andie MacDowell,
Chris Elliott,
Stephen Tobolowsky,
Brian Doyle-Murray
Music by George Fenton
Cinematography John Bailey
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) February 12, 1993
Running time 101 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $14,600,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. It was written by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis and based on a story by Rubin.

In the film, Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event (February 2) in Punxsutawney, finds himself repeating the same day over and over again. After indulging in all manner of hedonistic pursuits, he begins to reexamine his life and priorities.

In 2006, Groundhog Day was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It is listed as the 181st most popular movie at the Internet Movie Database as of Groundhog Day, 2008.

Contents

[edit] Plot

TV meteorologist Phil Connors, his producer Rita, and cameraman Larry from the fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9 travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (which, in real life, as in the movie, holds a major celebration for Groundhog Day) to cover the annual festivities with Punxsutawney Phil.

After the celebration concludes, a blizzard develops that Connors had predicted would miss them, closing the roads and shutting down long-distance phone service, forcing the team to return to Punxsutawney. Connors awakens the next morning, however, to find it is again February 2, and his day unfolds in exactly the same way. He is aware of the repetition, but everyone else seems to be living February 2 exactly the same way and for the first time. This recursion repeats the following morning as well, over and over again. For Connors, Groundhog Day begins each morning at 6:00 A.M., with his waking up to the same song, Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe", on his alarm clock radio, but with his memories of the "previous" day(s) intact, trapped in a seemingly endless "time loop" to repeat the same day in the same small town.

After briefly trying to rationalize his situation, and then thinking he is insane, Connors takes advantage of learning the day's events and the information he is able to gather about the town's inhabitants, and that his actions have no long-term consequences. He revels in this situation for a time: seducing beautiful women, stealing money, even driving drunk and experiencing a police chase. However, his attempts to seduce his producer, Rita, are met with repeated failure. He begins to tire of, and then dread, his existence, starting the day by smashing the alarm clock and professing the inanity of Groundhog Day as a holiday in his newscast. In a vain attempt to break the cycle, he kidnaps Phil the Groundhog. After a police pursuit, Connors drives a stolen truck into a quarry, causing both man and rodent to die in a fiery explosion; but the loop does not stop. He commits suicide several more times — he electrocutes himself, lets a truck hit him on the road, and jumps from a tall building (other attempts are alluded to) — but mere death cannot stop the day from repeating. After he dies, he simply wakes up listening to Sonny & Cher in the same bed again.

He initially tries to seduce Rita by learning as much as he can on a daily basis. This fails consistently. However, he is able to befriend her in a more sincere fashion. He tells her of his circumstances - how he is reliving the day over and over again - and manages to convince her with his extensive knowledge of events to come, the lives of the Punxsutawney townspeople, and Rita herself.

He opens his heart to Rita, and her advice helps him to gradually find a goal for his trapped life: as a benefactor to others. He cannot, in a single day, bring others to fulfill his needs but he can achieve self-improvement by educating himself on a daily basis. After seeing an elderly homeless man die, Phil vows that no one will die on "his" day and performs many heroic services each and every day, including performing the Heimlich Maneuver on a choking man and saving a little boy who falls from a tree. He however becomes despondent for being unable to save the homeless man, despite trying to get him medical care. A hospital nurse tries to console him when he wishes to learn the cause of the man's death, saying "it was just his time."

Though the film does not specify the number of repetitions, there is enough time for Connors to learn many complex skills, such as how to play jazz piano, speak French, sculpt ice, and memorize the life story of almost everyone in town. He also masters the art of flipping playing cards into an upturned hat, which he offhandedly suggests takes six months. According to author Rubin, his intent in the original script was for the time-frame to be ambiguous, but longer than a single lifetime. The studio objected to this, asking that it be reduced to two weeks. Director Ramis tried to leave the time-frame ambiguous, but intended it to be about ten years.[1]

Eventually, Connors enhances his own human understanding which, in return, makes him an appreciated and beloved man in the town. Finally, after professing a true love to Rita, one which she is able to accept, he wakes up on February 3 — again to "I Got You Babe", though alert viewers will note at a different point in the song. It is a new day, with Rita beside him on the bed. Phil suggests to Rita that they live in Punxsutawney, though he suggests (in an improvised line)[citation needed] "We'll rent to start." The closing song is "Almost Like Being in Love" from Brigadoon, a musical which also dealt with a village trapped in time.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Development of the movie

"Ned's Corner" commemorative plaque, Woodstock Illinois
"Ned's Corner" commemorative plaque, Woodstock Illinois
Tip Top Cafe - now Tip Top Bistro, Woodstock, Illinois
Tip Top Cafe - now Tip Top Bistro, Woodstock, Illinois

According to the director's commentaries from the DVD, there are several differences between the original script for Groundhog Day, as written by Danny Rubin, and the film as it was actually released, because of changes made by the film's director, Harold Ramis. In the original script the film began in the middle of the narrative, without explaining how or why Phil was repeating Groundhog Day. However, the filmmakers became concerned that the audience would feel cheated without seeing Phil's growing realization of the nature of the time loop. Rubin had also originally envisioned Andie MacDowell's Rita reliving Groundhog Day with Phil and wished to portray the pair as being stuck in the time loop for far longer than in the final film, possibly for thousands of years (Phil tracked time by reading a page of a book each day and had managed to read through the entire public library). Consequently, the love story was less developed in the original script than in the final movie.

There was also a second draft script, which gave an explicit reason for the time loop — a voodoo spell cast by a woman who worked at the television station and was involved with Phil before he rejected her — that did not appear in the final film.

The location for most of the shooting of the film was not actually Punxsutawney but rather Woodstock, Illinois (only a short drive from Murray's hometown of Wilmette). The inhabitants of Woodstock helped in the film's production by bringing out heaters to warm the cast and crew in cold weather. In Punxsutawney, the actual Gobbler's Knob is located in a rural area about 2 miles (3 km) east of town. However, the location used in Woodstock gives the impression that the Knob is inside the town. The Tip Top Cafe in Woodstock, where much of the film takes place, was originally a set created for the film, but local demand led to its opening as a real cafe. It eventually closed down, but a "Tip Top Bistro" has taken its place.[2]

Some of the film was also shot in nearby Indiana, Pennsylvania, with aerial shots also being filmed in Pittsburgh. An aerial view of the WPBH van shows the buildings for the Pittsburgh Press and Post-Gazette newspapers, as well as Gateway Center, the home of KDKA TV and Radio.[citation needed]

[edit] Reception

Groundhog Day was a solid performer in its initial release, grossing $70.9M in North America and ranking 13th among films released in 1993,[3] but did not achieve blockbuster status. It found a second life on home video and cable, entrenching itself as one of the great American films of the late twentieth century. The film is number thirty-four on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Funniest Movies, and Roger Ebert has revisited it in his "Great Movies" series. After giving it a three-star rating in his original review, Ebert acknowledged in his "Great Movies" essay that, like many viewers, he had initially underestimated the film's many virtues and only came to truly appreciate it through repeated viewings.

This film is number 32 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". In Total Film's 1990s special issue, Groundhog Day was deemed the best film of 1993 (the year that saw the release of Schindler's List, The Piano and The Fugitive). In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the seventh greatest comedy film of all time. The Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #27 on their list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.[4] National Review magazine featured the movie on its cover on February 14, 2005, saying that it "will almost undoubtedly join It's a Wonderful Life in the pantheon of America's most uplifting, morally serious, enjoyable, and timeless movies."[5] It maintains a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

[edit] Influence

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Groundhog Day is a tale of self-improvement, to look inside oneself and realize that the only satisfaction in life comes from turning outward and concerning oneself with others rather than concentrating solely on one's own wants and desires. As such, the film has become a favorite of Buddhist, Christian and Jewish leaders alike because they see its themes of selflessness and rebirth as a reflection of their own spiritual messages. It has even been dubbed by some religious leaders as the "most spiritual film of our time."[6]
  • The phrase "Groundhog Day" has entered common use as a reference to an unpleasant situation that continually repeats, or seems to, until one spiritually transcends it.[7] It is also used in this sense in the UK, perhaps more commonly than in its original meaning since 2 February is not commonly celebrated as Groundhog Day in the UK. (Similar holidays, Candlemas and Imbolc, have been celebrated on this date in many parts of Europe, though without the references to groundhogs.) At least one British-English dictionary marks the Groundhog Day holiday as a North American usage, with no such annotation for the repetitious meaning.[8]
  • Referring to unpleasant, unchanging, repetitive situations as “Groundhog Day” was widespread throughout the U.S. military very soon after the movie’s release in February 1993. A magazine article about the aircraft carrier USS America mentions its use by sailors in September 1993[9]. Around the same time, the movie was a favorite of soldiers in Mogadishu, who identified with the protagonist’s situation. By March 1994, there was a defensive zone in Somalia called Groundhog Station. In February 1994, the crew of the USS Saratoga referred to its deployment in the Adriatic Sea, in support of Bosnia operations, as Groundhog Station. A speech by President Clinton in January 1996 specifically referred to the movie and the use of the phrase by military personnel in Bosnia.[10] Even today in the Iraq War, "Groundhog Day" is American military slang for any day of a tour of duty in Iraq.[11]
  • The term is also entering the real world lexicon as witnessed by the following comments from R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, on talks on the Israel/Lebanon conflict in August 2006. "We’d go home at 10 or 11 at night and say, ‘Tomorrow will be a better day.’ But the next day was Groundhog Day all over again."[12]
  • Member of Parliament Dennis Skinner likened British Prime Minister Tony Blair's treatment following the 2004 Hutton Inquiry to Groundhog Day. "[The affair] was, he said, like Groundhog Day, with the prime minister's critics demanding one inquiry, then another inquiry, then another inquiry." Blair responded approvingly, "I could not have put it better myself. Indeed I did not put it better myself."[13]
  • The movie has been used to explain the economic theory of "perfectly competitive equilibrium based on perfect information."[14]
  • The film's cult following has made it one of Murray's well-known roles. In a recorded holiday greeting played on Air America Radio, the actor wishes the listener a "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year and Happy Groundhog Day."
  • Groundhog Day has gone on to inspire many areas of pop culture. Rock band The Dismemberment Plan derived its name from dialogue spoken by the Tobolowsky character Ned Ryerson. British comedy quiz show Shooting Stars used the question "Who was the star of Groundhog Day?", to which contestant Dave Lee Travis replied "Bill Murray". Host Bob Mortimer then asked the question again and Travis answered it again, and this repeated with Travis ever more irate until he eventually understood the joke, busted up laughing and offered "The groundhog!".
  • The Welsh rock band, the Manic Street Preachers, recorded a song in 2001 entitled "Groundhog Days" which begins with the lyrics, "Waking up again/To the same old thing/To the same old songs/To the same old pain..."
  • In August 2003, Stephen Sondheim responded to a question about his next project that he was interested in something like a theme and variations - possibly a musical adaptation of Groundhog Day.[15][16]
  • Heavy Metal Band Mastodon make a reference to 'Groundhog Day' in their DVD 'The Making of Blood Mountain' when they describe the recording process as reliving the same day over and over again.
  • An Italian remake, È già ieri, moved the action to a tiny island in the Canary Islands archipelago, on August 13. Instead of groundhogs, the protagonist is there to cover the migration of storks.
  • Groundhog Day has been used as an illustration by an economist in an article arguing the impossibility of the economics concepts of perfect information and perfect competition. Full text of article
  • During Groundhog Day in the video game Animal Crossing, a character mentions that Groundhog Day was good enough to have a movie made after it.
  • The Stargate SG-1 episode "Window of Opportunity" (itself about a time loop) has Jack O'Neill refer to the film, saying "So you can be king of Groundhog Day".
  • In the book five of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi series, Kyon mentions that he might end up repeating his first year of High School for the rest of his life "Groundhog's Day style".
  • The film was a favorite one among the Rangers deployed for Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia in 1993, because they saw the film as a metaphor of their own situation, waiting long between raids and monotonous long days[17]
  • The BBC released a docu-drama called End Day which depicts a scientist who is unknowingly caught in a loop of different apocalyptic and disastrous events including a massive tsunami, asteroid impact, a supervolcano, a global pandemic, and a black hole-like phenomenon. At the start of each loop, the scientist hails a cab near a London cinema, which displays the words "Groundhog Day, now showing", an obvious reference to the inspiration behind the loop concept used in the programme.
  • The episode of Xena: Warrior Princess titled "Been There, Done That" involves Xena stuck in a time loop until she figures out how to unite two lovers. The episode is a direct homage, going so far as having the wake up line "Rise & shine" spoken by one of the characters at the start of each repeated day.
  • The third-season episode of Supernatural titled "Mystery Spot" involves Sam reliving the same day over and over, continually having to deal with Dean's death. In several of the time loops when Sam explains his predicament to Dean, Dean says it's "like Groundhog Day". More direct references include Sam awakening each time to the same song ("Heat of the Moment" by Asia) and Dean announcing "Rise and shine, Sammy!"

[edit] Awards

[edit] Details from the film

  • The poetry Rita quotes to Phil is from the sixth canto of The Lay of the Last Minstrel by Sir Walter Scott, also known as Patriotism. The French poem Phil quotes to Rita is La bourrée du célibataire by Jacques Brel. Translated, he says "The girl I will love / is like a fine wine / that gets better / a little each morning."
  • The book Phil is reading as Rita is falling asleep is Poems for Every Mood, edited by Harriet Monroe; the poem he was reading to Rita was Joyce Kilmer's 119. Trees.
  • The set construction and theme music for WPBH-TV in the movie were based on those of WTAE-TV, the real-life ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh.
  • At the dance, when Ned (Stephen Tobolowsky) asks Phil and Rita "Where are we going?", Rita pinches his cheek and says "Oh, let's not spoil it!". In the DVD commentary, Harold Ramis says the line as originally written in the script was "Let's not ruin it." The word was changed because Andie McDowell's Gaffney accent distorted the word "ruin".
  • The jazz piano piece that Phil plays at the party begins with the 18th variation of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
  • Phil seeks out piano lessons after hearing the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata in C major, K.545 in the diner.
  • In the German restaurant, there is a poster on which one can read "Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Eichhörnchentag" ("Congratulations on Squirrel Day"). This is a mistake, because the German word for "groundhog" is "Murmeltier", while "Eichhörnchen" means "squirrel."

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Danny Rubin's blog entry of 29 January 2008, "The Magic of Friendship".
  2. ^ "Woodstock, Illinois - Groundhog Day Movie Town". Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  3. ^ 1993 Domestic Grosses.
  4. ^ "The 101 Greatest Screenplays". Writers Guild of America. Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  5. ^ Jonah Goldberg (02-14-2005). A Movie for All Time. National Review. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  6. ^ Buncombe, Andrew. The Independent (London, England), February 2, 2004. "Is this the greatest story ever told?". Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  7. ^ "The spiritual power of repetitive form: Steps toward transcendence in Groundhog Day." Suzanne Daughton, Critical Studies in Mass Communication. Annandale: Jun 1996. Vol. 13, Iss. 2; pg. 138, 17 pgs
  8. ^ Collins Main Dictionary Definitions"Groundhog Day". Retrieved on 2006-21-12.
  9. ^ "Diplomacy's Gunboat,"U.S. News and World Report, February 22, 1994 http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/940228/archive_012486_4.htm
  10. ^ Remarks to American Troops at Tuzla Airfield, Bosnia-Herzegovina, January 13, 1996
  11. ^ "Back From Iraq at the Great American Diner". Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  12. ^ Hoge, Warren. The New York Times, August 14, 2006. "U.S. policy shift spurred UN drive for truce.". Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  13. ^ Nick Assinder (2004-02-04). Politics: Prime Minister's Questions. BBC News. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  14. ^ "Austrian Economics in Action: The economics of Groundhog Day." D W MacKenzie. Review - Institute of Public Affairs. Melbourne: Mar 2007. Vol. 59, Iss. 1; pg. 20
  15. ^ "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Broadway". Institute for Studies In American Music (2003). Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  16. ^ "Sondheim plans changes to Bounce". The Stephen Sondheim Society (2003). Retrieved on October 10, 2006.
  17. ^ Bowden, [[Black Hawk Down (book)|]], Corgi edition, 2000 p.534.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Films directed by Harold Ramis

Caddyshack (1980) • National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) • Club Paradise (1986) • Groundhog Day (1993) • Stuart Saves His Family (1995) • Multiplicity (1996) • Analyze This (1999) • Bedazzled (2000) • Analyze That (2002) • The Ice Harvest (2005) • The Year One (2008) • Pure Imagination (2008)