Groundhog Day 2012

It’s HERE and according to that famed PA forecaster, groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, there’s six more weeks of winter. Earlier today, crowds gathered at  Gobbler's Knob, the tiny hill in Punxsutawney, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh to see Phil cast his shadow.

Here, just like last year, it’s raining. However, according to the Eastern shore forecasters at Rat Trap Creek, spring is just around the corner. As in 2011, Grenville saw Marshall and Mandy Muskrat getting ready for beach weather.

Tonight, we settle in for our annual Feb. 2 event  - watching Groundhog Day (but not over and over). This 1993 American comedy starred Bill Murray and Andie McDowall and was directed by Harold Ramis of Ghostbusters fame.

Plot: 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. As the film progresses, Connors re-examines his priorities with predictable humorous results.

Some facts about the film . . .

• Murray was bitten by the groundhog twice during shooting.
• A family of groundhogs was raised for the production.
• There are 38 days depicted in the film, partially or in full.
• Director Ramis  wanted Tom Hanks for the lead, but decided against it, saying that Hanks was “too nice.”
• One of the groundhog officials is Brian Doyle-Murray, one of Bill Murray's five brothers.
• The movie was filmed in Woodstock, Illinois, where a small plaque declares: “Bill Murray stepped here” on the curb where Murray continually steps off into a puddle.

And one more . . .

• In 2006, the film was added to the U.S. States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

We’re not sure about that last item, but we DO know is that it’s a funny film – over and over.