Groundhog Day (1993) on Netflix
PG19931h 41mComedyFantasyRomance
Phil Connors, a cynical Pittsburgh weatherman, is sent to cover Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry. The next morning the day begins again.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb8.0/10741,016 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
Phil Connors works as the weatherman at a Pittsburgh station, and he makes clear how little he thinks of Groundhog Day, the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and the viewers he addresses. He travels there with Rita Hanson, his new producer, and Larry, his cameraman, and tells his audience that the coming blizzard will pass the region by. The storm instead closes the roads, and the three of them stay in town overnight. Phil wakes at the Cherry Street Inn to the same radio song and the same morning as before. He takes the repetition for déjà vu, but the day returns once more. Rita suggests he see a neurologist, who passes him on to a psychologist; neither can account for what is happening.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Groundhog Day (1993)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Tom Hanks was Harold Ramis's first choice to play Phil Connors but rejected the offer, reasoning that he was typecast as nice people and audiences would expect his inevitable redemption, whereas Bill Murray was "such a miserable [son of a bitch] on- and off-screen" that the outcome would be less predictable.
- A live groundhog named Scooter played Punxsutawney Phil because Punxsutawney officials, upset that their town was not used for filming, refused to allow the real Punxsutawney Phil to appear; Scooter had been trapped in the wild near Illinois a few weeks before filming.
- Groundhog Day marked the end of Bill Murray and Harold Ramis's longtime collaborative partnership, which had produced films like Caddyshack and Ghostbusters; after filming ended the pair did not speak to each other until shortly before Ramis's death in 2014.
- During the scene in which Phil drives off with Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog bit Bill Murray on the knuckle, breaking the skin even though he was wearing gloves, and during a later take it bit him again in the same spot.
- Several local businesses banded together to oppose the film's presence in town; location scout Bob Hudgins was proud that badges reading "23", for the 23 united businesses, had to be amended to "14" as he won several over, and three owners later sued Columbia Pictures for lost profits.
- Author Richard A. Lupoff threatened legal action alleging the film copied his short story "12:01 P.M.", though the case was never filed, and author Leon Arden sued claiming it plagiarised his novel One Fine Day, which he had unsuccessfully pitched to Columbia; the judge ruled against Arden.
- The phrase "Groundhog Day" is now recognized by dictionaries as "a situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated", and then-President Bill Clinton referenced the film in a 1996 speech to troops stationed in Bosnia.
SPOILER
Harold Ramis suggested removing Danny Rubin's original ending, in which Rita is left trapped in a loop of her own, because he felt audiences would dislike it as it offered no catharsis.
