Groundhog Day (film)

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Groundhog Day
Image:Groundhogday.jpeg
Directed by	Harold Ramis
Written by	Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis
Starring	Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray
Produced by	Trevor Albert, Harold Ramis
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	February 12, 1993
Runtime	101 min.
Language	English
Budget	$14,600,000
IMDb page


Rating‹s›	PG
for	some thematic elements.

Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray as Phil Conners, an egocentric Pittsburgh weatherman who dreads his annual assignment covering Groundhog Day from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Andie MacDowell plays Rita, his new producer, and Chris Elliott plays Larry, the cameraman. The film was directed by Harold Ramis and written by Ramis and Danny Rubin.

1 Plot
2 Theme
3 Influence
4 Development of the movie
5 External links

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

In the film, Phil Connors becomes trapped in a time loop, living the same day (Groundhog Day) over and over again in the small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (which, in real life, as in the movie, holds a major celebration for Groundhog Day). Groundhog Day begins afresh for Connors each morning (starting with his waking up to the same song, Sonny & Cher's I Got You Babe, on his alarm clock radio), but with his (and only his) memories of that day intact. He soon takes advantage of his foreknowledge of the day's events, the information he is able to gather about the town's inhabitants, and the fact that his actions can have no long-term consequences. He creates an extravagant life for himself, robbing banks, seducing women, and indulging his every pleasure. However, his attempts to seduce Rita are met with repeated failure. He begins to tire, and then to despair of his existence. He commits suicide several times, but even death cannot stop the day from repeating. 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. He then develops many talents and human understanding which, in return, make him an appreciated and loved man and eventually allow him to escape the magic spell and find love.

Theme

The film explores the idea of how one's own choices influence and dictate one's future; in this respect, it parallels the life of George Bailey in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. In contrast to Bailey, Connors gets to manipulate the variables, and then to see the many different outcomes, which seems to repeat countless times.

During the first part of the movie, Connors explores the unseemly side of his personality: shallowness, exploitation, gluttony, crime, meanness, self-pity, dishonesty, etc. These experiences do not provide satisfaction, however. In fact, they lead him into a deep, dark depression, where he attempts suicide many times. Each unsuccessful suicide bid causes him to become more extravagant in his attempts, but still the day repeats.

Connors is eventually inspired to explore the more pleasant aspects of his personality. He helps the ill, rescues people, takes piano lessons, becomes an expert ice sculpter, and eventually learns to appreciate others. These experiences, and their consequences, fulfil what seem to be his deepest desires; to like himself, to like others, and to be liked. As he comes to realize who he is, he is able to love, and is eventually able to win Rita's heart. With this, Connors finally awakens to a new day.

It remains unclear what really causes the spell to be released. Was it the realization of his dreams? Was it the attainment of real self-worth, or love? Was it the choices that Connors made? Or is it possible that each of these is related to the others?

Influence

Groundhog Day is a tale of learning to value one's place in life, to value one's unique knowledge and qualities, and to use that knowledge to value self and to love others, as compared to their use for selfish and egocentric satisfaction. Although it did not do exceptionally well in its original cinema release, the movie had a sort of second life on video and cable. Originally noted as an uplifting romantic comedy by critics, it has since entrenched itself as one of the great American films of the late 20th 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. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 7th greatest comedy film of all time. Groundhog Day has been embraced by a variety of religions, including Jews, and Buddhists as a good expression of their beliefs. It opened MOMA's film series The Hidden God: Film and Faith. The concept has been copied frequently in several television series. It is also popularly thought to have been part of the inspiration for Nintendo's 2000 video game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. In the game, the player must experience the same sequence of three days over and over in order to save the world from being destroyed by a falling moon.

The phrase "Groundhog Day" has entered common use as a reference to an unpleasant situation that continually repeats, or seems to.

Development of the movie

There are several differences between the original script for Groundhog Day, as written by Danny Ruben, and the film as it was actually released, due to 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 Phil Connors had come to be constantly reliving Groundhog Day. However the filmmakers became concerned that the audience would feel cheated without seeing how Phil had become trapped in 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. Consequently, the love story within the film was less developed in the original script than in the final movie.

The location for most of the shooting of the film was not actually Punxsutawney but rather Woodstock, Illinois which "just seemed right". 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 real Groundhog celebration takes place at Gobbler's Knob which is located in a rural area about 2 miles east of town.