Groundhog Day (movie)

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 its birthplace in 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 both Ramis and Danny Rubin .

Plot

Phil Connors is 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). He rapidly takes advantage of this knowledge of the events of the day to create an extravagant life of pleasures, money, and seduced women for himself. But when he attempts to seduce his colleague in this way (MacDowell) he meets with repeated failures, he begins to tire, and then to despair of his existence. He commits suicide several times, but even death cannot stop the repeating day. He opens his heart to MacDowell, 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 make himself a better man 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.

Reaction

Groundhog Day is a deep tale on the value of what one's knowledge and qualities are worth to others, as compared to their use for selfish and egocentric satisfaction. Although it didn't 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 American Film Institute's list of 100 Funniest Movies, and Roger Ebert has revisited it in his Great Movies series. It has been embraced by a wide variety of religions, including Hasidic Jews, Jesuits 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.

From the reviews

"An example of an exceptional work of moral fiction is the apparently minor comedy, Groundhog Day, which shows us a character who has to be exiled from normal life so he can discover that he is in exile from himself." [1]

"If I had to nominate one movie as my favourite I think it would be Groundhog Day. It is a comedy, a fantasy, a romance and a moral tale of a cynical man's redemption." [2]

Development of the movie

The original script by Danny Rubin started in the middle of the narrative. The filmmakers were worried that the audience would feel cheated without seeing how Phil got there. Rubin had envisioned the character going through the same day for thousands of years, with Andi MacDowell also reliving Groundhog Day along with Murray's Phil. Consequently, the love story was less developed in the original script than in the final movie. Director Harold Ramis made the necessary changes and it became a classic and beloved comedy. "It's about doing what you can do in the moment to make things better."

The location for most of the shooting was not actually in Punxsutawney. In Punxsutawney the celebration takes place outside of town. While scouting they pulled into Woodstock, Illinois. "It just seemed right."

Some of the filming was done when it was quite cold. The town's folk brought out heaters to help the crew. They started filming in winter and ended in spring.

External links

• Movie Reviews
• The Symbolism and Significance of Groundhog Day
• Annotated links of Groundhog Day and Buddhism
• Roger Ebert's Great Movies entry on Groundhog Day