What a funny movie. Only Bill Murray could pull this movie off with such flair. My favorite scenes are the "6:00 A.M. scenes" ...the radio goes off and the DJs play, "I've Got You, Babe." by Sonny & Cher. After each time, Murray's character becomes more confused and annoyed...then he gets angry. Finally he decides to "mellow out". Finally, his generosity and selflessness is the "Key" to get out of the "time loop"
I must add, Punxsutawney,PA looks A LOT like Woodstock, IL. You can see the old opera house in several scenes.
I must add, Punxsutawney,PA looks A LOT like Woodstock, IL.
That's because it was. I'm sure I'm not telling you something you don't already know. At least they didn't substitute Puxatawney Phil with Staten Island Chuck.
Thanks, Adam. I did know that. My last posting was a sample of my "tongue in cheek" humor.
Continuity error:
Sometimes Rita slaps Phil (Bill Murray) with her right hand, sometimes she slaps him with her left hand.
The concept of the movie reminds me of the novel "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. In this book, the main character is caught in a time loop in which every time he dies, he reverts back to the age of eighteen, with all the memories of the lives he has lived before. A variant on this is Kurt Vonnegut's Time Quake in which a time warp sends a bunch of people back fifty years into the past to relive it. The catch is that, although they possess knowledge of the future, they are powerless to change any of their actions and are doomed to do things exactly as they did them before.
I wouldn't really call Rita's slapping of Murray across the face a continuity error----It is the same day of course but things he did may may led her to decide to hit him with the left hand instead of the right and visa-versa.......
I wonder how long, from Phil's perspective, he was stuck in Punxsutawney? Some have said hundreds, even thousands of years. Poor guy, even killing himself didn't work, the loop just began again.
I believe that the filmmakers once said that Phil was stuck in Punxsutawney reliving the same day for 10 years before
****SPOILER*****
he finally gets it right and is allowed to continue his life.
I live 1/2 hour from Woodstock, Il. where this was filmed. Every year they celebrate the making of the movie there...complete with a guided tour of all the locations where the movie was filmed.
They even show this movie at the theater
It's Groundhog Day.
I'll probably break out my DVD of this movie and watch it. I do it every Groundhog Day.
You do it every Groundhog day... over and over and over and over and over and over ....
Like AMC is playing the movie today. Over and over and over. From 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. Shoulda called in sick....
Of course, I'll be giving my Groundhog Day DVD it's annual watch today.
Again and again and again and .....
Yup.
What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today!
One of the best lines of the movie, IMO.
Phil always wakes up at precisely 6:00 am. On the first day we see him wake up, get up, go splash some water on his face and then go to the window to have a look outside. Although the street lights are still on, we see that's it already quite bright out there. However, at 6:00 am on February 2nd in Punxsutawney PA, sunrise is still about an hour and 20 minutes away and it should be full night out there.
A real life "Groundhog Day" celebration, in honor of the late Harold Ramis. Bill Murray included. More on that here.
Harold Ramis as a cameo in the movie. He plays the doctor that Phil goes to see, early on in the loop.
Although time loops had been used prior to this film (Classic Who used them a few times), Groundhog Day made them famous.