Groundhog Day Again

Turns out there's a fair amount of rumination on the subject of how long Phil Connors (Bill Murray) spends in a February 2 time-loop in Groundhog Day. That came to mind because we watched it the other day. Not February 2, as it happened, but Sunday, February 6. Close enough.

The only time I'd seen the movie before was a few years after it was released, so long ago that it was on videotape. It's more remarkable than I remembered, though I remembered liking it 15 years ago. "Bloody brilliant," as the fellow at Obsessed With Film puts it, who also says "normal people should be happy to just watch, and accept that Phil Connors is stuck repeating his one day endlessly over and over until he finds himself."

I'll go along with that. But I was also interested to learn that Woodstock, Ill., not far northwest of where I live, is passed off as Punxsutawney, Pa., for the most part. A couple of sources tell me that there's a plaque on the Woodstock main square marking the place where Phil Connors had his encounter with insurance salesman Ned "the Head" Reyerson and stepped in a cold puddle. Next time I'm in Woodstock, and we go now and then, I'm going to look for that. That's my kind of landmark.