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James Finnegan takes a look back at the classic comedy, Groundhog Day, which saw it’s premiere 30 years ago today…
“Nobody knows anything…Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”
So said Academy Award winner (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and ‘All the President’s Men’), William Goldman, in his book ‘Adventures in the Screen Trade’.
So rather than review Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation again, we thought we might take a look at different aspects of films this week in Finnegan On Films.
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Thursday saw the annual Groundhog Day, which is always February 2, which evolved from an ancient ritual brought to America by German immigrants who settled in what is now Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Punxsutawney Phil, or at least the latest groundhog, emerged from his burrow last Thursday morning and saw his shadow, declaring there would be six more weeks of winter. This prediction was made as a deadly storm wreaked havoc in the States
Of course this charming annual event was given worldwide fame by the release of the famous film, imaginatively called ‘Groundhog Day’, 30 years ago this week.
Directed by Harold Ramis and written by Danny Rubin, the film is now considered to be one of most beloved movies of all time, and it’s hard to believe that it’s already been three decades since it hit cinemas.
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It stars Bill Murray as Phil Connors, a cynical television weatherman covering the event, accompanied by Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry (Chris Elliott). Phil shows nothing but contempt for his assignment, the small town and its citizens, because he will soon be moving onto a new job.
He awakes in the Cherry Tree Inn to Sonny and Cher’s ‘I’ve Got You, Babe’ and discovers he cannot leave town, as it is snowed in, so he must stay another night.
The next morning he awakes to the same song, the same cheery radio presenter and the same day events. He appears to be the only person who realises that he is stuck in a time loop that is forcing him to relive the same day over and over again without consequences.
This leads to a series of unforgettable scenes with Stephen Tobolowsky as insurance salesman Ned Ryerson.
However, it was not the easiest of films to make. Despite Murray and Ramis working together before on ‘Caddyshack’ (1980) and ‘Ghostbusters’ (1984), they began disagreeing as they started working together on this project.
Murray apparently wanted a more serious approach, whereas Ramis wanted a comedy.
The script, which cleverly avoided any explanation for the time loop by dropping a storyline of a witch curse on Phil, won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.
When the movie premiered, it became an instant classic – earning more than $105 million at the box office and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of that year.
The two former friends Murray and Ramis did not speak for years after they made the movie and they only reunited months before Ramis’ death in 2014.
Try and catch it again…and again.
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