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

Murray plays Phil Connors, an egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, finds himself repeating the same day over and over again. After indulging in hedonism and numerous suicide attempts, he begins to re-examine his life and priorities.

In 2006, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."^[2]

Plot[link]

Self-centered and sour TV meteorologist Phil Connors (Murray), news producer Rita (MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Elliott) from fictional Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9 travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual February 2 Groundhog Day festivities with Punxsutawney Phil. Having grown tired of this assignment, Phil grudgingly gives his report and attempts to return to Pittsburgh when a blizzard shuts down the roads. Phil and his team are forced to return to Punxsutawney and stay in town overnight.

Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2. The day essentially plays out as it did before, with no one else aware of the time loop, and only Phil aware of past events. At first he is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues on subsequent days, he decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear of long-term consequences: he learns secrets from the town's residents, seduces women, steals money, drives recklessly, and gets thrown in jail. However, his attempts to get closer to Rita repeatedly fail.

Eventually, Phil becomes despondent and tries more and more drastically to end the time loop; he gives ridiculous and offensive reports on the festival, abuses residents, kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and, after a police chase, drives into a quarry, evidently killing both himself and the groundhog. However, Phil wakes up and finds that nothing has changed; further attempts at suicide are just as fruitless as he continues to find himself awaking at six o'clock on the morning of February 2 with the clock-radio on his nightstand playing "I Got You, Babe" by Sonny & Cher.

When Phil explains the situation to Rita, she suggests that he should take advantage of it to improve himself. Inspired, Phil endeavors to try to learn more about Rita, building upon his knowledge of her and the town each day. He begins to use his by-now vast experience of the day to help as many people around town as possible. He uses the time to learn, among other things, to play piano, ice sculpt and speak French.

Eventually, Phil is able to befriend almost everyone he meets during the day, using his experiences to save lives, help townspeople, and to get closer to Rita. He crafts a report on the Groundhog Day celebration so eloquent that all the other stations turn their microphones to him. After the evening dance, Rita and Phil retire together to Phil's room. He wakes the next morning and finds the time loop is broken; it is now February 3 and Rita is still with him. After going outside, Phil talks about living in Punxsutawney with Rita.

Cast[link]

Andie MacDowell with groundhog, 2008

• Bill Murray as Phil Connors
• Andie MacDowell as Rita
• Chris Elliott as Larry
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Ned Ryerson
• Brian Doyle-Murray as Buster Green
• Rick Ducommun as Gus
• Robin Duke as Doris, the waitress
• Marita Geraghty as Nancy Taylor
• Harold Ramis as Neurologist
• Willie Garson as Phil's Asst. Kenny
• Ken Hudson Campbell as man in hallway
• Rick Overton as Ralph
• Richard Henzel as D.J. #1
• David Pasquesi as Psychiatrist
• Hynden Walch as Debbie
• Michael Shannon as Fred
• Eric Saiet as Buster's son

Production[link]

Tip Top Cafe, Woodstock, IL.

According to Harold Ramis' DVD commentary, there are several differences between Danny Rubin's original script and the film as it was actually released.

The original script began in the middle of the narrative, without explaining how or why Phil was repeating Groundhog Day. 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 character Rita reliving the day with Phil, and portrayed 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).

There have been widely conflicting reports of how long Phil is trapped in the time loop. Ramis states in the DVD commentary that he believes 10 years pass. The website WolfGnards.com projected the time spent as eight years, eight months, and 16 days, based on him spending three years learning to play the piano, three years learning to ice sculpt, two years learning French, and six months learning to throw cards into a hat.^[3] However, in an e-mail response sent to Heeb magazine, Ramis said, "I think the 10-year estimate is too short. It takes at least 10 years to get good at anything, and allotting for the down time and misguided years he spent, it had to be more like 30 or 40 years."^[4]

Stephen Tobolowsky said that Ramis told him that he felt that the entire progress of Groundhog Day covered 10,000 years. "I always thought that there were nine days represented [in the film], and Danny Rubin, the writer, said that he felt something like 23 days were represented in the movie, [but they lasted] over 10,000 years."^[5]

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.

During the filming, Ramis and Murray, despite their longtime collaboration, had a personal and professional falling out which remained unresolved for more than 10 years.^[6][7]

Location[link]

The shooting location^[8][9] for most of the of the film was Woodstock, Illinois, a far northwest suburb of Chicago about 10 mi (16 km) from the Wisconsin border. Residents of the city helped in the production by bringing out heaters to warm the cast and crew in cold weather. The real Gobbler's Knob is located in a rural area about 2 mi (3.2 km) east of Punxsutawney, but the film location gives the impression that it is in the town. The Tip Top Cafe, where much of the film takes place, was originally a set created for the film, but local demand led to its remaining open as a real cafe. After it closed, the Tip Top Bistro took its place, eventually to be replaced by Bella's Gelateria which serves coffee and Italian ice cream.^[8] The Bed and Breakfast Inn that Phil stayed at was a house on Fremont Street at the south end of Madison Street.^[10]

An aerial view of the WPBH van shows the Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette buildings, as well as Gateway Center.^{[citation needed]}

Final scene[link]

Stephen Tobolowsky at Groundhog Day 2010 in Punxsutawney recalled the making of the final scene:

He [Bill Murray] said, “I refuse to shoot this scene until I know how I am dressed. Am I wearing the clothes I wore the night before? Am I wearing p.j.’s? Am I not wearing that?” That is, what happened that night between him and Andie [MacDowell]? So, he refused to shoot it. Harold Ramis, the director, had not thought of this question, and he didn’t know. So he took a vote from the cast and crew as to what Bill was wearing. Is he wearing the clothes from the night before, or is he wearing pajamas? And it was a tie, a tie vote, so Bill still refused to shoot the scene.

Then one girl in the movie—it was her first film—she was assistant set director. She raised her hand and said, “He is absolutely wearing the clothes he wore the night before. If he is not wearing the clothes he wore the night before, it will ruin the movie. That’s my vote.” So Harold Ramis said, “Then that’s what we are going to do.” I’ve never told anybody that behind-the-scenes story, so keep that a secret now.^[5]

Reception[link]

The film was released to universal acclaim. It currently garners a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic, the movie has a score of 72 ("generally favorable reviews") out of 100. It was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to Jurassic Park.

Groundhog Day was a solid performer in its initial release, grossing $70.9 million in North America and ranking 13th among films released in 1993.^[11] It found a second life on home video and cable. The film is number thirty-four on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Funniest Movies, and was named the number eight Fantasy film in AFI's 10 Top 10. Roger Ebert has revisited it in his "Great Movies" series.^[12] After giving it a three-star rating in his original review,^[13] 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. In 2009, the American literary theorist and legal scholar Stanley Fish named the film as among the ten best American films ever.^[14]

The 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 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.^[15]

On NBC's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in May 2012, President Obama indicated it is one of his favorite movies. Fallon concurred.

Awards[link]

• British Comedy Awards 1993 (Comedy Film)
• Saturn Award for Best Actress (Film) (Andie McDowell, for playing Rita)

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Groundhog Day was acknowledged as the eighth best film in the fantasy genre.^[16][17]

American Film Institute recognition

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - #34
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - Nominated^[18]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated^[19]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - #8 Fantasy Film

Legacy[link]

The phrase "Groundhog Day" has entered common use as a reference to an unpleasant situation that continually repeats, or seems to.^[20]

In the military, referring to unpleasant, unchanging, repetitive situations as “Groundhog Day” was widespread 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.^[21] The film was a favorite 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 periods between raids and monotonous long days.^[22] In February 1994, the crew of the aircraft carrier 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.^[23] Fourteen years after the movie was released, "Groundhog Day" was noted as American military slang for any day of a tour of duty in Iraq.^[24]

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."^[25]

Groundhog Day has been considered a tale of self-improvement which emphasizes the need 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. The phrase also has become a shorthand illustration for the concept of spiritual transcendence.^[26][27] As such, the film has become a favorite of Buddhists^[28][29] because they see its themes of selflessness and rebirth as a reflection of their own spiritual messages. It has also, in the Catholic tradition, been seen as a representation of Purgatory. It has even been dubbed by some religious leaders as the "most spiritual film of our time."^[30]

In economics, the movie has been used by economists to illustrate the theory of "perfectly competitive equilibrium based on perfect information", and its associated theoretical shortcomings.^[31]

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;^[32][33] however, in a 2008 live chat said that "to make a musical of Groundhog Day would be to gild the lily. It cannot be improved".^[34]

See also[link]

• 12:01 PM
• End Day
• Day Break

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Gilbey, Ryan (2004), Groundhog Day, London: British Film Institute, ISBN 1-84457-032-0 .
• Rubin, Danny (2012), How to Write "Groundhog Day", Boston: Triad Publishing .

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Groundhog Day (film)

Look up Groundhog Day in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Groundhog Day at the Internet Movie Database
• Groundhog Day (film) at the TCM Movie Database
• Groundhog Day at AllRovi
• Groundhog Day at Rotten Tomatoes
• Roger Ebert (1993-02-12). "Groundhog Day". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19930212/REVIEWS/302120302/1023. 
• Roger Ebert (2005-01-30). "Groundhog Day". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/REVIEWS08/501300301/1023. 
• Real-life "Groundhog Days" studied
• Essays and Original Screenplay by Danny Rubin (Feb 2 2012)

Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day 2005 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, USA
Type	Cultural
Significance	Predicts the arrival of spring.
Date	February 2
Celebrations	Announcing whether a groundhog sees its shadow after it emerges from its burrow

Groundhog Day (Deutsch: Murmeltiertag) is a day celebrated on February 2. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.^[1]

Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow. In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge,^[2] social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime or quarter, per word spoken, put into a bowl in the center of the table.^[3]

The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition,^[4] received widespread attention as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and portrayed Punxsutawney Phil.^[5]

History[link]

The celebration, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog.^[6] It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication^[7] and to St. Swithun's Day in July.

Historical origins[link]

The groundhog (Marmota monax) is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels.

Statue of groundhog Wiarton Willie in Wiarton, Ontario

An early American reference to Groundhog Day can be found in a diary entry,^[8] dated February 4, 1841, of Berks County, Pennsylvania, storekeeper James Morris:

Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans,^[9] the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.

In Scotland, the poem:

<poem>

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, There'll be two winters in the year.

</poem>

An English poem:

<poem>

If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter has another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Winter will not come again.

</poem>

Alternative origin theories[link]

In western countries in the Northern Hemisphere the official first day of spring is almost seven weeks (46–48 days) after Groundhog Day, on March 20 or March 21. The custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendrical systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night. Other traditions held that spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the groundhog/hedgehog, was incorporated as a yearly custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes winter lasts 6 more weeks until the equinox.^[10]

Locations[link]

The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where crowds as large as 40,000^[11] have gathered to celebrate the holiday since at least 1886.^[12] Other celebrations of note in Pennsylvania take place in Quarryville in Lancaster County,^[13] the Anthracite Region of Schuylkill County,^[14] the Sinnamahoning Valley^[15] and Bucks County.^[16]

Outside of Pennsylvania, notable celebrations occur in the Frederick and Hagerstown areas of Maryland, Marion, Ohio with Buckeye Chuck, ^[17] the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia,^[18] Woodstock, Illinois,^[19] Lilburn, Georgia,^[20] among the Amish populations of over twenty states and at Wiarton, Ontario, and Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, in Canada.^[18] The University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, has taken Groundhog Day as its official university holiday and organizes a large-scale celebration every year in honor of the Groundhog.^[21]

Predictions of various groundhogs since 2008[link]

Meteorological Accuracy[link]

According to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents' forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time.^[111] However, a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the weather patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period--a value not significant compared to the 33% that could occur by chance.^[111] According to the StormFax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, Punxsutawney Phil's weather predictions have been correct 39% of the time.^[112] The National Climatic Data Center reportedly has stated that the overall accuracy rate is around 61%^{[citation needed]}.

Groundhog Day in popular culture[link]

• At the end of Disney's 1930 Silly Symphonies short film Winter, Mr. Groundhog the Weather Prophet comes out of his hole to determine whether or not there will be more winter. At first, he does not see his shadow, but the clouds clear and his shadow appears, causing him to run back inside. At this point, the winds picks up again and winter continues.

• The 1941 Woody Woodpecker short Pantry Panic portrays the groundhog as a weather forecaster, although in this case he forecasts the timing of the beginning of winter, not the end of it.

• The 1947 Warner Bros. cartoon One Meat Brawl features Grover Groundhog singing the "Groundhog Song" with music by Carl W. Stalling and lyrics by Warren Foster.^[113]

• In the 1979 Rankin-Bass Christmas TV special Jack Frost, a crucial plot point in the story involves Jack casting his own shadow on Groundhog Day for six more weeks of winter. At the end of the story it is revealed that the narrator (voiced by Buddy Hackett) is the groundhog.

• The 1993 comedy movie Groundhog Day takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on this day (although the majority of the movie was actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois). The main character (played by Bill Murray) is forced to relive the day over and over again until he can learn to give up his selfishness and become a better person.^[114] In popular culture, the phrase "Groundhog Day" has come to represent going through a phenomenon over and over until one spiritually transcends it.^[115]

• In Disney's 2006 film Bambi II, Bambi accompanies his friends Thumper and Flower to go and see the Groundhog, whose shadow will foretell if winter will end soon.

Similar customs[link]

A similar custom is celebrated among Orthodox Christians in Serbia on February 15 (February 2 according to local Julian calendar) during the feast of celebration of Sretenje or The Meeting of the Lord. It is believed that on this day the bear will awake from winter dormancy, and if in this sleepy and confused state it sees (meets) its own shadow, it will get scared and go back to sleep for an additional 40 days, thus prolonging the winter. Thus, if it is sunny on Sretenje, it is the sign that the winter is not over yet. If it is cloudy, it is a good sign that the winter is about to end.

In Germany, June 27 is "Siebenschläfertag" (Seven Sleepers Day). If it rains that day, the rest of summer is supposedly going to be rainy. While it might seem to refer to the "Siebenschläfer" squirrel (Glis Glis), also known as the "edible dormouse," it actually commemorates the Seven Sleepers (the actual commemoration day is July 25).

In the United Kingdom, July 15 is known as St. Swithun's day. It was traditionally believed if it rained on that day, it would rain for the next 40 days and nights.

In Alaska, February 2 is observed as Marmot Day rather than Groundhog Day because few groundhogs exist in the state.^[116]

Notes[link]