the groundhog day project

Phil is on his way to Punxsutawney again because it is the 2nd of the month. I am in a hotel room on a roadtrip. Unlike that fateful roadtrip made for this blog, June 2015, when I was covering Westerns for a month, this one... I was going to say that it didn't end with a broken down car, but we are not home yet. We did see some movie locations--notably Monument Valley--but nothing to do with the current run of movies from, now, 1988, in my childhood deconstruction. But, today is not even about that deconstruction, because it's Groundhog Day around here. The goal with every re-screening of Groundhog Day now, of course, is to notice something new in the film that I've not seen in the 400+ prior screenings. But, it doesn't matter if I notice something new-- (Though, as I typed that, I actually noticed a new small detail, because that's what my brain does. The old guy in the bright red hat--the one I often called the devil during the first year of this blog-...

(There will be profanity.) About 40 minutes into S.F.W. , Cliff Spab is wandering about inside a record store--this film is, of course, from when those still existed--and a video of him held hostage comes on and he watches. It's one of the interesting moments where you can really see what the film is going for, as Spab sees himself from the outside and see what has people so enamored. In that video, Spab says: Fuck you. What's the point of saying anything? You know how it is, man. The same old fucking shit. So, I'm... I'm stuck in this Fun Stop. So fucking what? So, I'm bored as shit. So fucking what? So, I don't know what the fuck's going on. So fucking what? So, I might die in here... So fucking what? So, I haven't had a decent shower and food in way too fucking... So fucking what? How is this different from anything else that's happened in my life? I mean, God, when I was in high school, fucking up big time, everybody was always giving...

Speaking of a repetitive day-to-day, Phil Connors embodies that. I mean, in Pittsburgh, going to the station, repeating the same barely accurate weather information day in and day out, then a little banter with Nan and Kenny, then out on the town to pick up a woman to bring back to his apartment. He's already made his way through the secretarial pool, even has to avoid a few of those women. He's starting to feel as if he will never be able to settle down... at least in the moments that it occurs to him that he should. And, in an earlier incarnation of the script, he has found Stephanie. He didn't mean to treat her badly. He even told her, explicitly, that he didn't have time for a "real relationship." One of these days, a major network is going to call him up and he doesn't want to have to worry about a girlfriend or, worse, a wife, to affect his decision to go. His immediate decision to go, that is. Leave Pittsburgh as far behind him as he did Clevela...

A week with Groundhog Day . Seven days in a row of this one film. Who would have thunk that I could survive it? I mean, the repetitive nature of the film itself should have made repeated viewing unbearable. But no. Remarkably, it was quite readily repeatable, this film about repetition. And, watching it these last seven days has been rather comforting, like coming home to an old friend. But, I am not done with that friend. I’m not even done with the final revision of the script for that friend. But, I will be soon. I said that there were nine tabs left, so let us just be systematic about this... Beware, six days ago, I said this: “Now, let us just do this systematically. I will try not to mention every little tab or highlight.” Today, I will mention every little tab... of the ones that are left. #10 ... because I skipped this one on the previous page of my printout - the girl who comes out of Mary’s house, i.e. the piano student Phil gets thrown out into the cold out of selfishn...

Another scene that I don’t know if they actually filmed it is the party scene: INT. PHIL’S ROOM - NIGHT There is a very wild party in progress. The revelers include everyone from college kids to bikers to farmers. Bruno the German Shepherd [who Phil called out by name while driving around in his new car just a couple pages earlier] runs into the scene, barking at the activity. Then Bruno runs over to Phil who’s just sitting on the sofa staring at the fake fire. He’s wearing a really loud sportshirt, a number of gold neck chains and rings on every finger. On his lap is a whole chocolate cake which he is absently eating with his fingers. A very trashy looking girl named ANGIE in too tight-jeans and halter top is coming on to him, practically licking his ears. (Ramis, 1992, March 5, p. 64) She’s graduated a little bit. In earlier drafts, she was present at a BIKER BAR first, and she was a slut named ANGIE and she was accompanied by another overweight, not very pretty MADONNA WANNA-...

i have been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted and burned . That's the last time I did a recap post, and that was too long ago. As Groundhog Day plays tonight, I shall recap a few entries. For example, back in September, I watched a few romantic comedies, starting with When Harry Met Sally... : Day 395 - men and women can't be friends got into the definition of romantic comedy. Day 396 - write about things that happen to other people gets a little personal because I do that from time to time. Day 397 - sit with someone and not have to talk gets into the commentary track. Day 398 - the only person i knew in new york is me getting annoyed with Annie Hall as a side project in my week of When Harry Met Sally... , and suggests that a romantic comedy needs to be urban. Day 399 - i'm too structured gets into Social Penetration Theory and my general approach to blogging about movies. Day 400 - one of the secrets that no one ever tells you is about the ...

Groundhog Day is not a romantic comedy. And, it’s not just me who thinks so. Dowd and Pallotta (2000)—you know, my go to academic quality romantic comedy source—specifically excluded it from their coding. They explain: Our principle genre-relevant rule is that romance must be central to the story depicted in the film and not a secondary aspect... If the film is a mixed-genre effort—and adventure story, for example, in which two of the characters become romantically attached, such as was the case with Romancing the Stone [—I must interrupt this extended quotation to say that I love the movie Romancing the Stone and actually have it on the potential list of movies to watch for this blog at some point. Perhaps an adventure month, do a little Romancing the Stone , some Raiders of the Lost Ark and some... ah, there’s the rub. There aren’t a lot of adventure movies anymore. Maybe High Road to China , although I barely remember that from when I was a kid and maybe it doesn’t qualify....

Before I get into the topic for today, the first recap of the new iteration of this blog: (By the way, here are links to all six recaps of the first year—the Groundhog Day year: Day 62 – for your information Day 121 – how else could you know so much? Day 180 – it would be great to stay for some of the other events Day 240 – it’s your choice. so what’s it gonna be? Day 300 – round and round and round we go Day 363 – and you’d be an expert ) Phase Two of this blog began with a week of The Ring . Day 1 (366) – seven days established the new format for the blog while, in trying to generally review The Ring I got stuck on the “message” of the movie regarding television. That topic continued into Day 2 (367) – i hate television and into Day 3 (368) – how far down do you think it goes? Then, I got into the “anti-romanticization” (though I didn’t coin that term yet) of the small town in Day 4 (369) – everything sheltered, protected and comfortable . Day 5 (370) – she just wanted...

Watching Boyhood this morning, and a few times there were things I expected might happen that didn’t. The movie—if you don’t know it—was filmed over 12 years and evokes a sense of real life more than the Hollywood-constructed life. A boy doesn’t turn into a man in a single summer that lends itself easily to film—at least not all the time. It takes years. But, anyway, those moments. For example, Mason camps out with some other teenager boys at a house under (mostly done) construction and they’re drinking beers and breaking bits of wood, kicking them while another boy holds them. And, they also throw a saw blade into a spare bit of what looks like sheetrock. So, the end of the scene, oldest boy is going to punch a board held by the one kid who doesn’t want to drink, he’s holding it right in front of his face, and that saw blade is in the wall behind him. In a scripted film—especially a Final Destination film—this is a setup for a horrible injury and a lesson learned about going out ...

Subtitle: Notes on Harold Ramis' third revision for Groundhog Day , part two: Groundhoggier . While this draft does give some more examples of Phil being an ass, he also seems a little more reasonable in some instances. Case in point: Rita asks, "What do you want me to do?" In the film version, Phil says "I don’t know! You’re a producer, come up with something." In this draft: "The truth? I'd like you to spend the next 24 hours with me and don't leave my side for a second." It reads at first like he is genuinely trying to get Rita's help, asking for it rather than demanding it. But, here is where, in this draft, Rita says, "You know, Phil, you can charm all the little P.A.'s at the station, all the secretaries, and even some of the weekend anchors, but not me--not in a thousand years" (p. 41). Of course, then that thousand year bit at the end reads like deliberate setup for the unspoken joke to come--Phil will spend a thous...