title: Betty Ford

text: In 1978, the deadline for ratification of the ERA was extended from 1979 to 1982, resulting largely from a march of a hundred thousand people on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The march was led by prominent feminist leaders, including Ford, Bella Abzug, Elizabeth Chittick, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. In 1981, Eleanor Smeal, the National Organization for Women's president, announced Ford's appointment to be the co-chair, with Alan Alda, of the ERA Countdown Campaign. In November 1981, Ford stated that Governor of Illinois James R. Thompson had not done enough in support of the ERA as well as her disappointment with First Lady Nancy Reagan not being in favor of the measure, though also relayed her hopes to change the incumbent First Lady's mind in further encounters with her. As the deadline approached, Ford led marches, parades and rallies for the ERA with other feminists, including First Daughter Maureen Reagan and various Hollywood actors. Ford was credited with rejuvenating the ERA movement and inspiring more women to continue working for the ERA. She visited states, including Illinois, where ratification was believed to have the most realistic chance of passing. The amendment did not receive enough states' ratification. In 2004, Ford reaffirmed her pro-abortion rights stance and her support for the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Roe v. Wade," as well as her belief in and support for the ratification of the ERA.


title: Betty Ford

text: Ford tackled the stigmatized issue of HIV/AIDS during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Through the work she did at the Betty Ford Center, Ford recognized the link between drug abuse and AIDS. She involved herself in the Los Angeles AIDS Project. In 1985, Ford received the Los Angeles AIDS Projects "Commitment to Life Award". Her acceptance speech spoke hopefully of the prospect that attitudes towards HIV/AIDS would shift, being de-stigmatized as cancer and alcoholism had (in part due to her contribution). When she attended the 1992 Republican National Convention, Ford wore an AIDS ribbon pin.


title: Betty Ford

text: Ford supported gay and lesbian causes, speaking in favor of same-sex marriage and against discrimination in the United States military.


title: Betty Ford

text: On November 18, 1991, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush. In 1999, she and President Ford were jointly awarded Congressional Gold Medals. That same year, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her and her husband. On May 8, 2003, Ford received the Woodrow Wilson Award in Los Angeles for her public service, awarded by the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution.


title: Betty Ford

text: During her and President Ford's later years together, they resided in Rancho Mirage and in Beaver Creek, Colorado. President Ford died, aged 93, of heart failure on December 26, 2006, at their Rancho Mirage home. Despite her advanced age and own frail physical condition, Ford traveled across the country and took part in the funeral events in California, Washington, D.C., and Michigan. Following her husband's death, Ford continued to live in Rancho Mirage. Poor health and increasing frailty due to operations in August 2006 and April 2007 for blood clots in her legs caused her to largely curtail her public life. Ill health prevented Ford from attending the funeral of former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson's in July 2007, and her daughter Susan Ford Bales instead represented her at the funeral service.


title: Betty Ford

text: Betty Ford died of natural causes on July 8, 2011, three months after her 93rd birthday, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. Ford left $500,000 to the Betty Ford Center.


title: Betty Ford

text: Funeral services were held in Palm Desert, California, on July 12, 2011, with more than 800 people in attendance, including former president George W. Bush, then-First Lady Michelle Obama, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, herself a former First Lady, former First Ladies Rosalynn Carter, who gave a eulogy, and Nancy Reagan.


title: Betty Ford

text: On July 14, a second service was held at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, with eulogies given by Lynne Cheney, former Ford Museum director Richard Norton Smith, and Ford's son Steven. In attendance were former president Bill Clinton, former vice president Dick Cheney and former first lady Barbara Bush. In her remarks, Mrs. Cheney noted that July 14 would have been Gerald Ford's 98th birthday. After the service, Betty Ford was buried next to her husband on the museum grounds.


title: Betty Ford

text: In July 2018, a statue of Ford was unveiled outside of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


title: Betty Ford

text: Only a part of Betty Ford's legacy will be that of her role as first lady. Throughout her post-Washington life, she established herself as one of the nation's first public advocates for women's self-examination, a prodigious fund-raiser for arthritis research, and, most important, a tireless campaigner for the rights and dignity of those afflicted with the disease of substance abuse. Her role as a public health advocate distinguishes her as one of the most influential women of the latter part of the twentieth century.


title: Betty Ford

text: Since 1982 Siena College Research Institute has conducted occasional surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. Ford has consistently ranked among the top-nine most highly assessed first ladies in these surveys. In terms of cumulative assessment, Ford has been ranked:


title: Betty Ford

text: The 2008 Siena Research Institute survey ranked Ford the 5th-highest of the twenty 20th and 21st century First Ladies. The 2008 survey also ranked Ford the 5th-highest in their assessment of first ladies who were “their own women” as well as 5th-highest in courage. In both the 1993 and 2003 Siena Research Institute surveys, Ford was similarly ranked the 5th-highest in historians' assessment of first ladies' courage. In the 2014 Siena Research Institute survey, historians ranked Ford 3rd-highest among 20th and 21st century First Ladies in the greatness of post-White House service, 3rd-highest in advancement of women's issues, and 4th-highest in creating a lasting legacy. In the 2014 Siena Research Institute survey survey, Ford and her husband were ranked the 19th-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple".


title: Betty Ford

text: In 2021, Zogby Analytics conducted a poll in which a sample of the American public was asked to assess the greatness of twelve First Ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy onwards. The American public ranked Ford as the eighth-greatest among these first ladies.


title: Betty Ford

text: Ford's life is the focus of the 1987 ABC biographical television film "The Betty Ford Story", which has a story adapted from her memoir "The Times of My Life". Gena Rowlands won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Ford. Ford is also one of three former first ladies whose lives are the focus of the Emmy-nominated 2022 Showtime television series "The First Lady", in which she is portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer.


title: Betty Ford

text: In 1975, when "Time" named "American women" as its "Time Person of the Year", the magazine profiled Ford as one of eleven women selected to represent "American women".


title: Betty Ford

text: In 1985, Ford received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an annual award given by the Jefferson Awards. That same year, Ford received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by her husband, President Gerald Ford, an Academy Awards Council member. She also received that year's "Commitment to Life Award" from the Los Angeles AIDS Project. In 1991, Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush She and President Ford jointly received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. That same year, she and President Ford were given a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. In 2003, Ford was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award by the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, with a screenplay by him and Danny Rubin. It stars Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott. Murray portrays Phil Connors, a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February2nd repeatedly. The film also stars Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick Ducommun, Rick Overton, and Robin Duke.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin conceived the outline of "Groundhog Day" in the early 1990s. He wrote it as a spec script to gain meetings with producers for other work. It eventually came to the attention of Ramis, who worked with Rubin to make his idea less dark in tone and more palatable to a general audience by enhancing the comedy. After being cast, Murray clashed with Ramis over the script; Murray wanted to focus on the philosophical elements, whereas Ramis had concentrated on the comic aspects. Principal photography took place from March to June1992 almost entirely in Woodstock, Illinois. Filming was difficult, in part because of bitterly cold weather, but also because of the ongoing conflict between Ramis and Murray.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: "Groundhog Day" was considered a box-office success on its release, earning over $105million to become one of the highest-grossing films of 1993. It also received generally positive reviews. Reviewers were consistent in praise for the film's successful melding of highly sentimental and deeply cynical moments, and for the philosophical message beneath the comedy. It received multiple award nominations and won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. For all its success, the film marked the end of Ramis's and Murray's long collaborative partnership, which produced films like "Caddyshack" (1980) and "Ghostbusters" (1984). The pair did not speak after filming until shortly before Ramis's death in 2014. The film was a showcase for Murray; previously seen only as a comic actor, his performance led to more serious lead roles in critically acclaimed films.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: In the years since its release, the film has grown in esteem and is often considered to be among the greatest films of the 1990s and one of the greatest comedy movies ever. It also had a significant impact on popular culture; the term "Groundhog Day" became part of the English lexicon, meaning a monotonous, unpleasant, and repetitive situation. The film has been analyzed as a religious allegory by Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish scholars. "Groundhog Day" is also credited with the mainstream acceptance of comedy films featuring fantasy genre elements. In 2006, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry. "Groundhog Day" has been adapted into a 2016 musical and a 2019 video game sequel, "Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son".


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: On February 1, television weatherman Phil Connors reassures his Pittsburgh viewers that an approaching blizzard will miss Western Pennsylvania. Alongside his producer Rita Hanson and cameraman Larry, Phil travels to Punxsutawney for his annual coverage of the Groundhog Day festivities. He makes no secret of his contempt for the assignment, the small town, and the "hicks" who live there, asserting that he will soon be leaving his station for a new job.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: On February 2, Phil awakens in the Cherry Tree Inn to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" playing on the clock radio. He gives a half-hearted report on the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and the festivities. Contrary to his prediction, the blizzard strikes the area, preventing all travel out of Punxsutawney, and although he desperately searches for a way to leave, he is forced to spend the night in the town.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The next morning, Phil wakes once more to "I Got You Babe" and the same DJ banter on the radio. Phil experiences the previous day's events repeating exactly and believes he is experiencing déjà vu. He again unsuccessfully attempts to leave the town and retires to bed. When he awakes, it is again February 2. Phil gradually realizes that he is trapped in a time loop that no one else is aware of. He confides his situation to Rita, who directs him to a neurologist, who in turn directs him to a psychologist; neither can explain his experiences. Phil gets drunk with locals Gus and Ralph and then leads police on a high-speed car chase before being arrested and imprisoned. The next morning, Phil awakens in the Cherry Tree Inn.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Realizing that there are no consequences for his actions, Phil begins spending loops indulging in binge eating, one-night stands, robbery, and other dangerous activities, using his increasing knowledge of the day's events and the town residents to manipulate circumstances to his advantage. Eventually, he focuses on seducing Rita, using the loops to learn more about her so that he can try to sleep with her. No matter what steps he takes, Rita rebuffs his advances, particularly when Phil tells her he loves her; Rita asserts that he does not even know her.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Phil gradually becomes depressed and desperate for a way to escape the loop. He commits suicide in a variety of ways, even kidnapping Punxsutawney Phil and driving them both off a cliff. Each time, he reawakens on February2 to "I Got You Babe". He eventually tries to explain his situation to Rita again, using his detailed knowledge of the day to accurately predict events. Convinced, Rita spends the rest of that day's loop with Phil; she encourages him to think of the loops as a blessing instead of a curse. Lying on the bed together at night, Phil realizes that his feelings for Rita have become sincere. He wakes alone on February2. Phil decides to use his knowledge of the loop to change himself and others: he saves people from deadly accidents and misfortunes, and learns to play the piano, sculpt ice, and speak French. Regardless of his actions, he is unable to save a homeless old man from dying of natural causes.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: During one iteration of the loop, Phil reports on the Groundhog Day festivities with such eloquence that other news crews stop working to listen to his speech, amazing Rita. Phil continues his day helping the people of Punxsutawney. That night, Rita witnesses Phil's expert piano-playing skills as the adoring townsfolk regale her with stories of his good deeds. Impressed by his apparent overnight transformation, Rita successfully bids for him at a charity bachelor auction. Phil carves an ice sculpture in Rita's image and tells her that no matter what happens, even if he is doomed to continue waking alone each morning forever, he wants her to know that he is finally happy because he loves her. They share a kiss and retire to Phil's room. Phil wakes the next morning to "I Got You Babe", but finds Rita is still in bed with him and the radio banter has changed; it is now February3rd. Phil tells Rita that he wants to live in Punxsutawney with her.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: As well as the main cast, "Groundhog Day" features Ken Hudson Campbell as the man in the hotel hallway, David Pasquesi as Phil's psychiatrist, and Richard Henzel and Rob Riley as the radio hosts waking Phil every morning. Hynden Walch and Michael Shannon portray the newly married couple Debbie and Fred. Les Podewell plays the homeless old man, and Rod Sell appears as a Groundhog Day official. Director Harold Ramis cameos as a neurologist. Punxsutawney Phil is portrayed by a groundhog known as Scooter.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The original idea for "Groundhog Day" came to writer Danny Rubin in 1990. He had moved to Los Angeles to work as a screenwriter. While waiting in a theater for a film to start, he was reading Anne Rice's book "The Vampire Lestat" (1985). Rubin began musing about vampiric immortality and what one would do with their time if it was limitless. He reasoned that vampires were like normal people who did not need to adhere to ordinary rules or moral boundaries. He questioned if and when immortality would become boring or pointless, and how a person would change over time, especially if they were incapable of substantial change. He singled out men he deemed to be in arrested development, who could not outlive their adolescence.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Having recently sold his first script for what would become the thriller film "Hear No Evil" (1993), his agent prompted him to develop a "calling-card" script that he could use to gain meetings with producers. Rubin began work on his idea of a man changing over eternal life but quickly realized that the idea was impractical because of the expense of depicting historical and future events. At this point, Rubin recalled a brief story concept he had written two years earlier that followed a man who would wake every morning to find it was the same day repeating. Rubin married the two ideas to create the outline for "Groundhog Day". By portraying eternity as a repeating cycle instead of a straight line through history, he eliminated the production cost of constantly changing settings. He believed that the repetition also offered him more dramatic and comedic possibilities.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin opened a calendar and picked the next nearest holiday, February2, Groundhog Day. He saw it as a date with story potential because it was a recognized holiday without much widespread attention. Rubin believed that people were vaguely aware of the holiday, on which a groundhog predicts the coming of spring. Even so, he believed few people outside Pennsylvania were aware that the actual festival takes place in the small town of Punxsutawney, something he became aware of through a writing job for a local phone company. Setting the story in Punxsutawney provided a small area in which to trap Phil Connors, while reporting on the event gave the character a reason to visit. Rubin took the main character's name from Punxsutawney Phil. He hoped the film could become a perennial holiday favorite like "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965).


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin spent eight weeks working on the story: seven making notes to define the rules and characters, and one writing the script. He struggled to establish a cause for the time loop, considering technological, magical, and celestial origins. He considered these methods interchangeable and felt the cause was unimportant and could detract from the story elements he wanted to focus on. Rubin said that the lack of explanation made Phil's situation more relatable, as "none of us knows exactly how we got stuck here either." He chose to begin the story "in medias res", with Phil already caught in the time loop. The first scene included Phil waking to "I Got You Babe," predicting the radio host banter and the actions of the hotel patrons, and attacking a pedestrian outside. Rubin thought this would intrigue an audience trying to understand how and why he is doing these things. He chose "I Got You Babe" because it used a lot of repeating lines and was about love, which he felt were thematically resonant aspects. He likened his original script to the 1949 British black comedy film "Kind Hearts and Coronets", particularly the flippant way in which Phil's multiple suicides are shown.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin did not initially write the film as a broad comedy, considering it more whimsical. He found that the funnier elements were the easiest to think of; one of the earliest scenes he wrote was about Phil using his ever-increasing knowledge to seduce women. Loops were also dedicated to Phil seeing how far he could get outside of Punxsutawney; inevitably, he was always returned to the town. Even so, the script focused much more on Phil's loneliness. He breaks the loop only after realizing that there are other lonely people and that he can do good deeds to make them happier. Scenes in the finished film happened much earlier in Rubin's script, such as Phil driving over a cliff. The passage of time was also more distinct; Phil would track it by reading one page of a book per day, reaching his low point when he realizes he has run out of books. The original ending also featured a twist: Phil breaks his loop and then confesses his love to Rita. The perspective then becomes Rita's; she rejects Phil's advance because she is not ready for love and gets trapped in a loop of her own.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin's agent used the script to arrange meetings with producers; although it did not sell, the meetings generated other work for him. In 1991, after his agent left the industry, Rubin distributed the "Groundhog Day" script in an effort to secure a new representative. It came to the attention of Richard Lovett at Creative Arts Agency. Lovett said that he could not represent Rubin but passed the script to his own client, Harold Ramis.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: By the early 1990s, Ramis had begun moving away from involvement in the anti-establishment and anti-institutional comedies, such as "Caddyshack" (1980) and "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), that had defined his earlier career. While Ramis had successes in front of the camera and in creative roles like writing, his last directorial effort, "Club Paradise" (1986), had been a critical and commercial failure. He wanted to direct an unusual project and was particularly interested in comedies about redemption and discovering one's purpose in life. Rubin was aware of Ramis's previous work, having watched him in film and television.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Ramis admitted that he did not laugh while reading Rubin's script. He was interested in the underlying spirituality and romance present, but thought it needed more humor. The pair discussed the core ideas in the script, raising parallels between it and the concepts of Buddhism and reincarnation. They also discussed whether it was ethical for Superman—a superhuman being with the power to save the lives of countless people and prevent disasters—to effectively waste time on adventures with his partner Lois Lane.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin's script became the subject of two offers: one arranged by Ramis through Columbia Pictures that would grant his project a higher budget, but at the cost of creative control, and a smaller independent studio that offered a lower budget of $3million, but would let Rubin retain his original concept. Rubin chose to go with Ramis's deal. As expected, the studio wanted changes.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin admitted to becoming defensive about the studio's changes. He was concerned that they would remove what he saw as innovative plot points and turn it into a generic comedy film. Ramis supervised the rewrite, tasked with balancing Rubin's desire for originality and the studio's demand for a broad comedy. The pair loosely used the Kübler-Ross model of the five stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—as an outline. Ramis imagined himself in Phil's situation and the things he would do and feel if in the same cycle of entrapment. The pair spent weeks revising the script. Ramis suggested that Rubin's original ending, with Rita trapped in her own loop, be removed. He felt that audiences would dislike this as it offered no catharsis. Similarly, he felt it was important to retain the story's darker elements, such as Phil's suicides, as these compensated for the necessary sentimental moments.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin delivered a fresh draft on February 2, 1991. He was contractually permitted to write another draft, but the studio had Ramis take over, bringing Rubin's involvement to an end. Ramis took Rubin's new draft and began his solo rewrite. He found the sentimentality and sincerity completely opposed to everything he had learned to do as a comedian, and deliberately tempered the sweeter moments with a cynical and grouchy tone. Ramis reorganized the script into a mainstream three-act narrative. He emphasized Phil's smug attitude as a means of distancing himself from others, giving him a defined story arc as a classic comedic lead character deserving of his punishment. Ramis liked Rubin's concept of starting with the loop in progress, but associate producer Whitney White suggested starting the film before the loop begins because she thought it would be more interesting for the audience to see Phil's initial reaction to his predicament.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Ramis also removed Rita's boyfriend, Max, and introduced (then removed) Phil's executive producer, Gil Hawley. This draft featured more scenes focused on Phil's sexual conquests and removed some content deemed more mean-spirited, like Phil asking Rita to be his "love slave." The situation was reversed in the final version of the film, in which Rita buys Phil at the bachelor auction, claiming that she owns him. Phil's journeys outside Punxsutawney were excised, as Ramis did not want the audience becoming too focused on what the rules of the loop were and felt that keeping the story within the town made it more claustrophobic. Phil's expositional narration was removed as well. Also excised were more scenes of Phil's later good deeds and the clever methods he used to prevent accidents while making the most efficient use of his time. For example, Phil puts a large rock in a road to stop a truck delivering fish on which a restaurant patron would have later choked. Where Rubin's original script had been more sermonic and deprecating, Ramis made the tone more optimistic. Two versions of a scene with Phil and Rita in a diner from Rubin's original script (left) and Ramis's rewrite (right) exemplify the shift of emphasis toward both Phil's smugness and the romantic core of the film:


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: PHIL "I'll tell you what I do know. Even in a day as long as this, even in a lifetime of endless repetition, there's still room for possibilities."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: RITA "He's kind and sensitive and gentle and considerate. And he's not afraid to cry in front of me."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: It was Ramis's version that attracted Murray to the project, though Murray and Ramis immediately clashed over its tone. Murray wanted to focus on the philosophical elements; Ramis countered that it was meant to be a comedy. The studio was happier with Ramis's draft, believing that his changes made it more appealing to audiences. Columbia Pictures rehired Rubin to assess the script and provide notes. Rubin returned the script with pages of honest and sometimes sarcastic notes. In response, Murray recommended fully rehiring Rubin to assist on the script.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The studio refused to greenlight the project without making explicit why Phil becomes trapped. Producer Trevor Albert described a Columbia executive saying, "Why does the day repeat?... I like it... but I don't understand why he gets stuck in this loop." Rubin had conceived of several causes for the loop, including a jilted lover placing a curse on Phil and a mad scientist's invention malfunctioning. Albert and Ramis worked with Rubin to appease the studio, while agreeing to place the scenes too late in the shooting schedule to be filmed—and if forced to shoot it, to simply not include it in the film.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: As the conflict between Ramis and Murray continued, Ramis sent Rubin to work on the script with Murray; he believed it was the only way to stop Murray's constant early-morning phone calls. When Ramis called to check on their progress, Murray asked Rubin to pretend he was not there. The pair visited the 1992 Punxsutawney Groundhog Day festival to get a better understanding of the event, remaining discreet and not revealing the reason for their visit. They then spent weeks working together in New York City revising the script. Rubin found Murray's more laid-back approach to writing "frustrating." They were still working on the script a month before filming began, bringing it back closer to Rubin's original.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin and Ramis then collaborated on an additional rewrite. The pair worked on individual sections and then edited each other. Ramis then spent a few days refining it into the screenplay. Rubin recommended that they not include any references to the 1990s or any specific period to allow it to remain timeless. Rubin has said that the final film largely resembles his script. He did regret the loss of a scene between Phil and a 14-year-old boy, in which the child behaves like Phil did at the start of the film, contrasting with Phil's character development by that point in the script. A few scenes were written but not filmed, including Phil praying at a church, gambling, and a scene Murray personally vetoed, of Phil stripped naked to force an elderly man out of a swimming pool. Although the script was complete, it continued to undergo changes during filming.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: For the role of Phil Connors, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton were also considered. Hanks was Ramis's first choice, but he rejected the offer, rationalizing that he was typecast portraying nice people, and the audience would be expecting his inevitable redemption, whereas Murray was "such a miserable [son of a bitch] on- and off-screen" that the outcome would be less predictable. Keaton said that the role of a "wry, sardonic, glib" character was a typical role for him, but that he simply did not understand the film. He later confessed regret in passing on the role. Phil was written as a younger man, but this was changed when it was determined that the appropriate comic actors were all older.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Murray and Ramis had a longstanding friendship and collaborative relationship, having worked together since 1974 on many projects and five films to great success, including "Meatballs" (1979), "Caddyshack", and "Ghostbusters" (1984). Rubin did not write the character as particularly nasty, aiming for a normal person in an extranormal situation. In casting Murray, Phil was portrayed as more cynical, sarcastic, and detached, but not so malicious that audiences would no longer support him. Rubin wanted Kevin Kline for the part, believing Murray did not have the necessary acting ability. Ramis reassured Rubin, saying, "Don't worry. This is what Bill Murray can do. He can be that nasty and still make you like him." MacDowell agreed, saying "He's a jerk but he makes you laugh."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Albert auditioned comedians for the role of Rita but determined that someone vying with Murray at comedy would be detrimental. Rita was not intended to trade witty comments with Phil, but instead to offer human warmth and intelligence. MacDowell was cast because she was thought to bring an effortless grace suited to Rita's character. MacDowell tried to adapt to Murray's natural improvisation in scenes. She believed that her character's humor comes from her honesty, without being outlandish. Singer Tori Amos was also considered for the role.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Tobolowsky was hired after delivering an "overwhelmingly obnoxious" portrayal during his audition. Michael Shannon, who portrays prospective groom Fred, made his on-screen acting debut in the film. He spent much of the shoot in the background of the diner scene as they wanted all the actors in their places even if the camera was not focused on them. A live groundhog, given the name Scooter, was used to portray Punxsutawney Phil. Punxsutawney officials, upset that their town was not used for filming, refused to allow the real Punxsutawney Phil to appear in the film. The groundhog itself was not specially bred for use on film and was trapped in the wild near Illinois a few weeks before filming.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The production wanted to use a "quintessential American town" for location shooting, a place that did not look as if it was specific to any particular time period. The Pennsylvania Film Commission provided location scouting tapes of Punxsutawney, but it became obvious that attempting to film in Punxsutawney would present difficulties, as the town had few ideal filming locations for the scripted scenes. Punxsutawney was also too isolated from the necessary amenities. The rural town was nearly from the nearest large city, Pittsburgh, and did not offer sufficient accommodation for the cast and crew.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: As a Chicago native, Ramis enjoyed filming in Illinois and knew the area could meet their needs. These included being closer to a major metropolitan area with access to highways, a winter aesthetic, and the ability to complete the production as quickly as possible. Ramis also wanted a main street like Punxsutawney's. Location scout Bob Hudgins thought that Mineral Point, Wisconsin, could meet their requirements. During the scouting journey there, the team stopped in the city of Baraboo, Wisconsin, which happened to have a town square. The filmmakers could see the benefits of a town square over a main street. Ramis asked for something similar but in closer proximity to Chicago.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: By the time they arrived in Woodstock, Illinois, over 60 towns had been scouted. Hudgins was aware of Woodstock—a small town of approximately 25,000 people—from his work on the 1987 comedy film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Though relatively remote, it offered the timeless quality the filmmakers sought. After Hudgins arranged for Ramis and Albert to view the town from the bell tower of the Woodstock Opera House, the decision was made to film in Woodstock. The town even came with a large pothole for Phil to step in.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Scouts initially found a forested preserve area outside of McHenry, Illinois, to film scenes at Gobbler's Knob. The filmmakers later opted to position the site in the town square instead, recreating it to scale with detailed notes and videos, which significantly increased the impact on the town. Thousands of extras were on-site across multiple takes. Several local businesses banded together to oppose the film's presence, concerned about the impact the production would have on both the town square and storefronts over an indeterminate amount of time. Hudgins said that he was proud that badges with the number "23" on them—representing the 23 united businesses—had to be amended to "14" as he won several over. The city council was also split on whether to let it proceed. Three of the business owners sued Columbia Pictures after filming concluded for lost profits during the production. One of these cases was settled out of court; the outcomes of the other two are unknown.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Principal photography began on March 16, 1992 and concluded on June10, after 86 days. The budget was reported to be between $14.6million and $30million. Filming took place mainly in Woodstock, as well as on sets in Cary, Illinois, and Hollywood, California.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Weather conditions varied considerably during filming. Much of the shoot was conducted in conditions described as frigid and bitterly cold. Murray estimated that it was often . The conditions persisted until the end of May. Murray said that being outside for up to 12 hours a day left his skin feeling raw and made him irritable. Toward the end of the shoot, as summer began, fake snow was used to replicate the winter setting, and the actors continued to wear their winter gear despite the rising heat. Ramis could not decide on the weather conditions for the background of Phil's and Ned's encounters, so he shot their nine scenes multiple times in differing conditions. He settled on a gloomy setting to indicate a loop coming to an end. Weather conditions were a major factor in a two-week shoot for the car crash scene.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The shoot was also mired in tensions between Ramis and Murray; Ramis was focused on making a romantic comedy, in direct contrast to Murray's desire for a more contemplative film. Murray was also in the middle of a divorce from Margaret Kelly. He was reportedly miserable throughout filming, demonstrated erratic behavior, threw tantrums, and often contradicted Ramis's decisions. Ramis said that Murray constantly showed up late to set, calling his behavior "just irrationally mean and unavailable." The two also disagreed about the script and other actors' performances. Shannon recounted how he believed he had upset Murray during an encounter. When Ramis heard about this, he made Murray publicly apologize to Shannon. Tobolowsky recounted how before their scene's first take, Murray walked into a bakery and bought all the pastries, which he threw to the gathered onlookers, using Tobolowsky to help carry the load.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The script continued to change during filming. When Tobolowsky arrived for his first scene, he was handed a new script. He estimated that about a third of it was different from his original copy. For example, early in the film, Phil ends his first loop by breaking a pencil to see if it is repaired the following day. A more elaborate scene was filmed in which Phil spray-painted the walls of the room he wakes up in, destroyed objects, and gave himself a Mohawk hairstyle. The scene took three days to film and was costly; Ramis discarded it for something quieter, simpler, and less manic. The revised script also featured more of Phil's misadventures, and his suicide attempts were set closer to the end. These scenes were moved forward in favor of a long third act showing Phil embracing life.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Murray endured physical discomfort for some scenes. To prepare for his step into the water-filled pothole, he wrapped his foot in cling wrap, neoprene, and two pairs of socks. As soon as the scene finished, he began an expletive-filled rant until the costume department dried his foot with hairdryers to avoid frostbite. For another scene, Murray asked MacDowell to really slap him, and Ramis instructed the children Murray confronts in a snowball fight to throw hard. During the scene in which Phil drives off with Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog bit Murray on the knuckle. Despite wearing gloves, the bite broke the skin. It bit him again in the same spot on a later take.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Murray was hesitant about shooting the final scene in which Phil awakens next to Rita, as how or whether Phil was dressed would affect the tone of the reveal that he had escaped the time loop. Ramis polled the crew, who were split between Phil wearing the same clothes as the previous night and different clothes that suggested the pair had been intimate. A young female crew member served as the tiebreaker, ruling that they should be wearing the same clothes as "anything else... will ruin the movie." As MacDowell's and Murray's characters venture outside the Cherry Tree Inn in the film's denouement, the scripted line "Let's live here" is tempered by a Murray adlib, "We'll rent to start."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Many locations in and around Woodstock were used in the production. The Woodstock Town Square features prominently. A bar in the former courthouse is used for a bar in Rita's hotel. The Woodstock Opera House served as the exteriors of Rita's hotel, and its tower is used for Phil's suicide leap. The Cherry Street Inn was a private residence; the interior was shot on a set. Woodstock City Lanes was used for the bowling alley scene. The Tip Top Cafe, a setting for several scenes, was purpose-built for the film. Local demand later led to a real diner with a near-identical name at the same location. The bachelor auction where Phil demonstrates his personal transformation was filmed at the Woodstock Moose Lodge. The scene of Phil driving his car over a cliff was shot in Nimtz Quarry in Loves Park, Illinois, about from Woodstock. A rail system was used to propel two vehicles into the quarry on separate takes, to give Ramis a choice of shots; pyrotechnics were employed to make each explode.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: 1993 was considered the year of the family film. This was seen as a response to criticism of Hollywood for overusing violence and sex in films, as well as a need for feel-good entertainment in a time of recession. As production costs rose, films pitched at both adults and children offered a greater chance being profitable both at the theater and in the ensuing home video rentals. By 1993, the three all-time highest-grossing films in North America were family-oriented: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", "Star Wars", and "Home Alone". Family films encouraged repeat business and offered more opportunities to sell merchandise. Columbia Pictures chairman Mark Canton said that PG-rated films were much more likely to make over $100million, compared to adult-oriented fare. "Groundhog Day" was rated PG, allowing children access with parental permission. The film was seen as a potential sleeper success.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: "Groundhog Day" was one of many family films released that year, including "Free Willy", "Last Action Hero," and the highly anticipated "Jurassic Park", which would go on to become the highest-grossing film to date. Not all releases that year were family-centric; it would become considered one of the greatest years for film across a range of genres. There were blockbusters like "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Indecent Proposal", critical favorites such as "Schindler's List" and "Philadelphia", and future classics, like "Dazed and Confused", "", and "The Nightmare Before Christmas".


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The premiere of "Groundhog Day" took place on February4, 1993, at the Fox Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. Murray did not attend the low-budget event, whose guests included comedian Rodney Dangerfield and actresses Catherine O'Hara, Mimi Rogers, and Virginia Madsen. $40,000 of the entry ticket sales profits were donated to the Scleroderma Research Foundation and Turning Point Shelter. A second premiere took place the following day in Crystal Lake, Illinois, followed by an auction of props and signed equipment from the film. All proceeds were donated to the Woodstock school district.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: In North America, "Groundhog Day" received a wide release on February 12, 1993, across 1,640 theaters. The film earned $12.5million—an average of $7,632 per theater. The film benefited from a four-day weekend due to the President's Day holiday Monday. This increased its weekend total to $14.6million—enhancing the theater average to $8,934. This made it the second-biggest opening for a film released in winter, behind "Wayne's World" ($18million) released the year before. "Groundhog Day" finished as the number one film of the weekend, ahead of romantic drama "Sommersby" ($9.9million), and adventure comedy "" ($8.1million), both in their second week of release. Screenings of the film were approximately 80% sold out. 65% of audiences polled said they would "definitely recommend" it.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The film retained the number-one position in its second weekend with a further gross of $9.3million. In its third weekend, it dropped to second place with $7.6million, behind the debuting crime thriller "Falling Down" ($8.7million). "Groundhog Day" remained in the top 10 grossing films for a further four weeks, earning a total of $57.6million. It spent the remainder of its run outside of the top 10 apart from two brief resurgences—one during the long Easter weekend in mid-April where it rose to number 2, and approximately 15 weeks into its run, where it rose to number 7 after being released in low-price ticket theaters.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: In total, the film earned an approximate box office gross of $70.9million. Though it did not break any records, the film was considered a success, if a modest one. It finished as the 10th highest-grossing film of 1993 behind "Free Willy" ($78million) and "Cliffhanger" ($84million). When accounting for films released at the end of 1993 that earned most of their box office in 1994, "Groundhog Day" becomes the 14th-highest-grossing film of 1993. Industry experts suggest that as of 1997, the box office returns to the studio—minus the theaters' share—was $32.5million.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Outside of North America, the film is estimated to have earned a further $34.2million, giving it a cumulative worldwide gross of $105million and making it the 19th-highest-grossing-film of the year worldwide.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: "Groundhog Day" received generally positive reviews from critics. CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave it an average rating of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: It was seen as a significant change from the previous works of Murray and Ramis. Kenneth Turan appreciated it as a gentle, endearing, and smaller-scale film. Hal Hinson called it the best American comedy since 1982's "Tootsie" (also featuring Murray). He said that "Groundhog Day" demonstrated Ramis's capable comedic timing, and offered a clever plot without pretension. Critics compared it to a combination of "It's a Wonderful Life" and the surreal science-fiction/horror television series "The Twilight Zone" (1959). Roger Ebert compared it to the Murray-starring Christmas-comedy "Scrooged" (1988), featuring a similar transformation from selfish to selfless. He said that where that film offered a "grim discontent," "Groundhog Day" offered optimism.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Critics agreed that the film had an obvious moral, but disagreed on its presentation. Desson Thomson found the film initially intriguing but believed it deteriorated into a Hollywood-style morality tale. In Turan's opinion, "Groundhog Day" started as a traditional Hollywood story, but was earnest enough to convert the audience by the end, and had a "romantic innocence" that prevented it becoming formulaic. Hinson said that the moral core of the story was never presented in a way that insulted the viewer's intelligence or required they sacrifice their cynicism to accept it. He continued that Phil evolves into a better version of himself, but never stops being a jerk. According to Janet Maslin, the film balanced sentimentality and nihilism. "The Hollywood Reporter" appreciated that the film endorsed small town morals and their positive effect on Phil. The "New Statesman" argued that it appealed simultaneously to cynicism and optimism.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The tone was described as inconsistent, and the film poorly paced, some scenes going on too long. Owen Glieberman compared it unfavorably to another time-travel film, "Back to the Future" (1985), which he found more cleverly structured. He described some scenes as isolated comedy sketches rather than part of a larger narrative. Thomson said that the repetition of scenes worked against the film, making it seem as if no progress was being made. Hinson countered that minor alterations to the scenes kept them interesting as part of a "brilliantly imaginative" and "complex" script. Some reviewers said that the humor was often mild, eliciting small chuckles instead of outright hilarity, although Hinson found it to be "wildly funny." "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that it offered a range of comedy and satire, all tempered by the love story between Phil and Rita. Critics highlighted the deeper story behind the comedy. Ebert called it a comedy on the surface but with an underlying thoughtfulness. Maslin said that her initial impression was of a lightweight fare, but it became "strangely affecting."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Murray was consistently praised for his performance. Critics were in agreement that his performance was essential to the film's success by making Phil's transformation believable. Gene Siskel wrote that any other actor could not have prevented the film from becoming too "saccharine." Turan said that Murray's natural gruffness and comedic barbs prevented over-sentimentality. Turan also appreciated the endearing performance by Murray compared to his more abrasive, past performances. Hinson said that Murray had never been funnier. He continued that Murray was a vital component in keeping the film's optimism from seeming dishonest or manufactured. Hinson liked that even after Phil's redemption, he retains a cynical edge. Glieberman believed that Murray's indifference retains the audience's attention, but added that while Murray was talented enough to play a redeemed person, it was not a good fit for him. Ebert found Murray significantly funnier as a sarcastic antagonist than the friendly protagonist.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Critics were enamored with MacDowell's performance. Siskel said that she lit up the screen when she was on. Maslin called her a "thorough delight," saying that MacDowell's performance offered a comforting, comedic presence. Hinson said that the on-screen chemistry between MacDowell and Murray was "otherworldly" and that she was a perfect fit for comedy. Tobolowsky also received praise as a hilarious "pest."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: At the 1993 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the screenplay came runner up for Best Screenplay, tying with "Schindler's List". The same year, it won Best Comedy Film at the British Comedy Awards. In a then-unprecedented move, in late 1993, Columbia Pictures sent over 4,500 members of the Academy Awards voting committee a custom box containing videotapes of nine of their eligible films. The campaign was estimated to have cost between $400,000 and $650,000. "Groundhog Day" was included among these nine films, but received no nominations at the 66th Academy Awards.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: At the 1994 BAFTA Awards, Rubin and Ramis won the award for Best Original Screenplay. MacDowell won the award for Best Actress at the 20th Saturn Awards ceremony, where "Groundhog Day" also received nominations for Best Fantasy Film (losing to "The Nightmare Before Christmas"), Bill Murray for Best Actor (losing to Robert Downey Jr. in "Heart and Souls"), Best Writing and Best Direction (losing both to "Jurassic Park"), and Best Costumes for Jennifer Butler (losing to "Hocus Pocus"). At the American Comedy Awards, Murray and Elliott were nominated for, respectively, Funniest Actor and Funniest Supporting Actor. The film was nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation at the Hugo Awards, losing to "Jurassic Park".


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Despite its relative success, a sequel was ruled out by November 1993. "Groundhog Day" was one of the films credited with helping to reverse Columbia's failures at the box office, alongside the 1992 films "Bram Stoker's Dracula", "A Few Good Men" and "A League of Their Own". Shortly after its release, author Richard A. Lupoff threatened legal action against the filmmakers, alleging the film copied his short story "" and its associated 1990 about a man stuck in a time loop. The case was never formally filed as the film's production company refused to support legal action. Similarly, Leon Arden also attempted legal action, claiming the film was a copy of one he had unsuccessfully pitched to Columbia Pictures about a man repeating April 15. The judge ruled against Arden.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Murray initially hated the finished "Groundhog Day". In a 1993 interview, he said that he wanted to focus on the comedy and the underlying theme of people repeating their lives out of fear of change. Ramis wanted to focus on the redeeming power of love. Even so, Murray agreed that Ramis had ultimately been right to do so. The film marked the end of Ramis and Murray's nearly 20-year long partnership that among other things, had created films like "Caddyshack", "Stripes" (1981), and "Ghostbusters". After filming concluded, Murray stopped speaking to Ramis. He never contacted Ramis, and refused to speak about him in interviews. Ramis openly spoke about Murray, both criticizing him and discussing his dreams where the pair were once again friends. Some of their close acquaintances, including producer Michael Shamberg, speculated that Murray had grown disillusioned with the assumption that his best work only came in collaboration with Ramis, or that Ramis was responsible for Murray's public persona. Ramis said that he could make Murray as funny as possible, and in return, Murray's improvisational skills could save even the most lackluster of scripts.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Murray felt that "Groundhog Day" had given him an opportunity to showcase a different side of himself. He admitted that he was bothered by his perception that his previous films focused on jokes without offering a deeper subtext. Even so, he said that he had found solace in meeting the people entertained by his work. Ramis believed that Murray's dramatic turns in films like "Lost in Translation" (2003) revealed more about Murray than anything else. Speaking in 2009, Ramis said that he thought Murray had grown tired of being the manic, energetic person carrying a film, and wanted to explore his potential. Ramis reached out to Murray to cast him in his 2005 black comedy "The Ice Harvest". Murray's brother Brian declined on his behalf. When Ramis enquired further, Brian said that Murray never discussed Ramis. Except for a few brief exchanges at public events, the pair did not speak for nearly two decades. They reunited only in the final few months of Ramis's life in 2014. Rubin said that Murray and his brother now speak fondly of Ramis.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin was in high demand as a screenwriter but retained his desire to tell original stories and refused to tell a traditional Hollywood narrative arc, as he found defying the expected premise and structure the most interesting part. This was not acceptable to studios looking for him to simply put his spin on a conventional story. Eventually, the offers stopped coming. He continued to write scripts, but none progressed. In a 2017 interview, Rubin admitted some regret that "Groundhog Day" remained his biggest success.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: "Groundhog Day" was released on VHS in early September 1993. It debuted at number11 on the VHS rental chart, rising to number1 by the end of September, replacing "Falling Down". It remained the number1 rental until mid-October when it was knocked off the top spot by "Point of No Return" at number2 and "Aladdin" at number1. It was considered the most successful comedy release of late 1993.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The film was released on DVD in 1998. The 2002 "Special Edition" DVD included the film's trailers, an audio commentary by Ramis, and "The Weight of Time"—a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film, featuring cast and crew interviews. Murray did not participate. A 15th-anniversary edition DVD was released in January 2008. The film was digitally remastered under Ramis's supervision. This set included Ramis' audio commentary and "The Weight of Time", and added an interview with Ramis, a short documentary on groundhogs, and deleted scenes. This version was later released on Blu-ray disc in 2009, with an additional picture-in-picture feature with Tobolowsky reprising his role as Ned to provide facts about the film.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: To celebrate the film's 25th anniversary in February 2018, a remastered 4k resolution version of the film was released in select theaters. In April2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a special one-night screening of the remastered film at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California. The remastered version was also released as an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray disc, and a digital download. It included the same extras as the 15th-anniversary edition.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The duration of Phil's real-time entrapment in the time loop has been the subject of much discussion. Ramis once said that he believed the film took place over 10 years. When a blogger estimated the actual length to be approximately nine years, Ramis disputed that estimate and his own. He replied that it takes at least 10 years to become good at an activity (such as Phil learning ice sculpting and to speak French) and "allotting for the down-time and misguided years he spent, it had to be more like 30 or 40 years." A similar estimate suggests that it takes at least 10,000 hours of study (just over a year's worth of time) to become an expert in a field, and given the number of loops seen or mentioned on screen, and how long Phil could spend per day studying, that Phil spent approximately 12,400 days, or nearly 34 years, trapped in the loop. In Rubin's original concept draft, Phil himself estimates that he has been trapped for between 70 and 80 years, having used books to track the passage of time.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Born to a Jewish family, Ramis had adopted a Buddhist lifestyle from his second wife, embracing some of its precepts. He said that based on Buddhist doctrine, it takes approximately 10,000 years for a soul to evolve to the next level. In 2005, Rubin said, "it became this weird political issue because if you asked the studio, 'How long was the repetition?', they'd say, 'Two weeks'. But the point of the movie to me was that you had to feel you were enduring something that was going on for a long time... For me it had to be—I don't know. A hundred years. A lifetime." In his book "Groundhog Day", Ryan Gilbey thought the vagueness surrounding the length of the loop was one of the most remarkable elements of the film. Just as there is no justification for why or how Phil is caught in the loop, the length of time is only as long as it takes for Phil to become a better person.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The film has been interpreted in many ways by different groups. Rubin has said that he did not set out to write the film as a spiritual analogy. He simply wanted to tell a story about human life and periods in it where a person becomes trapped in a cycle no matter how much they want to escape. He said it was not "just about a man repeating the same day but a story about how to live. Whose life isn't a series of days? Who doesn't feel stuck from time to time?" In the bowling alley scene, Phil asks two Punxsutawney residents if they understand what it is like to be stuck in a place where nothing they do matters. He is referring to his own trapped situation, but the two men, though not trapped in their own loop, know exactly what he means.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: While Rubin and Ramis discussed several of the philosophical and spiritual aspects of the film, they "never intended [it] to be anything more than a good, heartfelt, entertaining story." Murray saw the original script as an interpretation of how people repeat the same day over and over because they are afraid of change. Rubin added that at the start of the loop, it is the worst day of Phil's life. By being forced to change who he is, to embrace the world around him, and each moment of his day, it becomes the best day of his life; the day he falls in love. In a 2017 interview, Murray said he believed "Groundhog Day" still resonated because it is about "the idea that we just have to try again... it's such a beautiful, powerful idea."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rubin has been contacted throughout the years by different experts providing their own interpretations. It has been seen as a Christian allegory with Punxsutawney Phil representing Jesus Christ, an example of the Nietzschean concept of the eternal return, the spirit of Judaism, and the essence of homeopathy. It has also been interpreted as an adaptation of the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus who is also condemned to an eternal, daily punishment. Others have found significance in the numbers present in the film. Ramis himself was fascinated by Rubin's original draft and its concepts of reincarnation. The date of Groundhog Day also has implications. It is set between the end of winter—characterized in the film as a period of satire and the end of things—and spring—a season represented by comedy and connected with themes of renewal and redemption.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Buddhist leaders commended the representation of the ideologies of regeneration. Phil can be interpreted as a bodhisattva, someone who has reached the brink of Nirvana and returns to Earth to help others to do the same. In the Jewish faith, Phil's escape or reward can be seen as him being returned to Earth to perform moral deeds or "mitzvot"—the precepts and commandments of God. In Christianity, his journey can be interpreted as a form of resurrection or a means of securing a place in heaven. In Falun Gong religious philosophy, the film has been interpreted as a message that the spiritual self cannot evolve until it learns from past mistakes. In Catholicism, Phil's situation can be identified as a form of purgatory, escaped only by embracing selflessness. MacDowell said "Wouldn't it be great if we had that kind of experience and learn something from it? We go through life and are not always conscious of it... whatever religion you want to base yourself in, that's ultimately why we're here." "Groundhog Day" can also be interpreted as a secular tale in which Phil is experiencing an existential crisis where primal indulgences are no longer satisfying, causing him to fall into a depression that he escapes by taking ownership of his own self-improvement; he then uses his improved persona to benevolently help others.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Phil initially compares himself to a god, declaring that as a weatherman, he makes the weather. After several loops he comes to believe he is a god, asserting that omnipotence may be mistaken for having lived so long one simply knows everything. Using his knowledge he is able to manipulate events in his favor. The repetition gives Phil an opportunity to escape from his own narcissistic self-confinement. Unwilling to change himself, the means to do so are forced upon him. After constant rejection by Rita and his idea of love, Phil hits an emotional low and repeatedly commits suicide. At one point he suggests that he has killed himself enough times to no longer exist. It is at this point, Ramis suggests, that Phil becomes ready to change.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: It is only when Phil stops using the loops to indulge his own desires and instead uses them to selflessly help others that he is freed. In repeatedly failing to save the old homeless man, Phil is also forced to accept that he is not a god. Similarly, regardless of how much knowledge he gains about Rita, and despite his accomplishments learned throughout the loops, he is unable to impress her enough to earn her love. He wins her over only once he stops trying to do so, when he demonstrates genuine care for helping others without fakery or self-interest, knowing that the day will likely reset and it will have all been for naught. Only then does Rita return his affections. The aspects of Rita that Phil mocked at the start of the film have become qualities he admires and respects, and in turn, Phil receives Rita's love not because he desires it, but because he has genuinely become the type of person that Rita could love. This demonstrates the redeeming power of love, something Ramis wanted to emphasize. For him, "Groundhog Day" represents having the strength and knowledge to make a change when faced with the opportunity to repeat previous mistakes.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Rick Brookhiser argues that it is because Phil fully appreciates every facet of the day that he is rewarded by the day being taken from him. He said, "loving life includes loving the fact that it goes." John Seamon said that where other films use memory as a means of reflection or escape, Phil effectively lives within his memories, repeating them indefinitely; he has no hope for a future because everything will reset. By remembering and appreciating new details, Phil is able to grow as a person and becomes the agent of his own change. Rubin said Phil will not return to his old ways after his experiences, but might suffer disappointment that no day will ever live up to his final, perfect February2, after which he essentially loses his superpowers.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: "Groundhog Day" is considered one of the most beloved comedy films ever made, an all-time classic, and a pop culture touchstone. In 2020, "Paste" described it as having a "mythic, permanent pop cultural status reserved for few films." The film's success made Ramis a credible comedy director, opening up more creative opportunities for him. Over the rest of the 1990s, he would direct 1996's "Multiplicity" (also starring MacDowell), 1999's "Analyze This", and 2000's "Bedazzled". "Groundhog Day" also showcased Murray's capabilities as an actor, changing perceptions of him as a comedian to a broad-ranged actor and credible romantic lead. His performance is seen as a transitioning point to later roles in serious films like "Rushmore" (1998), his Academy Award-nominated performance in "Lost in Translation", and "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). Rubin started a blog in 2007 that featured fictional conversations between himself and Phil Connors, who had since retired to live on a mountainside near Taos, New Mexico. Rubin taught screenwriting at Harvard University for several years.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Its impact on Woodstock and Punxsutawney was lasting and significant. Since the film's release, Woodstock has hosted its own Groundhog Day festivals. These have included groundhog Woodstock Willie, screenings of the film, and walking tours of filming locations. The town attracts approximately 1,000 tourists for its yearly event, which has featured appearances by Albert, Rubin, and Tobolowsky. Punxsutawney, which once drew only a few hundred visitors to its festival, has since attracted tens of thousands. The year following the film's release, over 35,000 people visited the town for Groundhog Day. Residents appreciate the film's impact on the town, but assert that their focus remains on Punxsutawney Phil and the long-lived festival. In Woodstock, plaques are positioned at key locations used in the film, commemorating moments including Phil meeting Ned, the pothole in which Phil trips, and the town square pavilion where Phil and Rita share a dance.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: As of 2016, Rubin continued to receive mail from fans, philosophers, and religious leaders; their content ranged from simple letters to sermons and dissertations. He has spoken of psychiatrists who recommend the film to their patients, and addicts who have told him that it helped them realize they were trapped in a repeating cycle of their own. Some time after the film's release, Murray changed his opinion about it. He called it "probably the best work I've done," adding "and probably the best work Harold will ever do." In 2018, Tobolowsky said "I think [Murray's] performance in "Groundhog Day" will stand as one of the greatest comedic performances of all time... He is able to be both antagonist and protagonist at the same time in the same film. He’s everything that’s horrible and everything that’s wonderful... I think it’s gonna stand up as long as films are made."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: "Groundhog Day" is considered one of the greatest films ever made. Rotten Tomatoes assesses a approval rating from the aggregated reviews of critics, with an average rating of . The consensus reads, "Smart, sweet, and inventive, "Groundhog Day" highlights Murray's dramatic gifts while still leaving plenty of room for laughs." The film has a score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: In 2004, "The New Yorker" called it Ramis's masterpiece. In 2005, as part of his "The Great Movies" series, Ebert raised his original score for the film from three stars to a full four stars. In this updated review, Ebert said that he had underestimated the film and noted that Murray's performance was essential to making the film work. That same year, Jonah Goldberg called it one of the best films of the previous 40years, positioning it alongside "It's a Wonderful Life" as one of America's most uplifting and timeless films. In 2009, literary theorist Stanley Fish listed it as one of the ten best American films. He wrote, "The comedy and the philosophy (how shall one live?) do not sit side by side, but inhabit each other in a unity that is incredibly satisfying." It is listed in the 2013 film reference book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", which says "...Bill Murray gives what may be the best and warmest performance of his career in this genius comedy—arguably the best of the 1990s..." "The Guardian" attributes its lasting appeal to its use of a classic redemption arc like Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol", and its refusal to explain why the loop occurs, making it less like a typical mainstream film.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: In 2000, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked "Groundhog Day" number34 on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list recognizing the best comedy films. In 2005, the film's screenplay was listed as the twenty-seventh greatest screenplay of the preceding 75 years on the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) 101 Greatest Screenplays list. In a 2008 AFI poll of 1,500 industry members, "Groundhog Day" was ranked as the eighth-best fantasy film. That same year "Empire" listed the film at number259 on its list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. In 2014, a poll of 2,120 entertainment-industry members by "The Hollywood Reporter" ranked it the sixty-third best film of all time. In 2015, the screenplay was listed as the third funniest on the WGA's 101 Funniest Screenplays list, positioning it behind "Some Like It Hot" (1958) and "Annie Hall" (1977). In 2017, the BBC polled 253 critics (118 female, 135 male) from across 52 countries on the funniest film made. "Groundhog Day" came fourth, behind "Annie Hall", "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), and "Some Like It Hot".


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Several publications have ranked it as one of the greatest comedy films of all time, including: number one by "Empire" (2019); number five by "Time Out"; number10 by Rotten Tomatoes; number11 by "IGN"; number18 by "Paste"; number23 by "The Daily Telegraph"; and unranked by Film School Rejects and "Vogue". Rotten Tomatoes also listed the film number86 on its list of 200 essential movies to watch. Similarly, it has been ranked as one of the greatest films of the 1990s, including: number4 by IndieWire; number5 by "Slate"; number11 by "Rolling Stone"; number12 by "ShortList"; number15 by "The A.V. Club"; number28 by Rotten Tomatoes; number41 by "Slant Magazine"; number55 by the British Film Institute; and unranked by "Time Out".


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: William Goldman in 1993 said "I think "Groundhog Day" is the one that will be—of all of the movies that came out this year, it's the one that will be remembered in 10 years." The same year, Desson Thomson opined ""Groundhog" will never be designated a national film treasure by the Library of Congress." In 2006, the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: Several filmmakers have spoken of their appreciation for "Groundhog Day" or cited it as an inspiration in their own careers, including David O. Russell, Terry Jones, and Jay Roach. Roach called it the film that "changed him." Gillian Wearing called it one of her favorite films, citing its unusual structure and intelligent philosophical message. The film's success helped to legitimize the use of fantasy in mainstream comedy films, laying the groundwork for future fantasy comedies such as "Liar Liar" (1997), "The Truman Show" (1998), and "Click" (2006).


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The phrase "Groundhog Day" has become a common term to reference a repetitive, unpleasant, and monotonous situation. It is recognized by dictionaries under two definitions: the holiday itself, and "a situation in which events are or appear to be continually repeated." The term's use is such that it has been defined as a cliché to refer to a situation in this way. It has been invoked (sometimes inaccurately) by singers, sports stars, comedians, actors, politicians, archbishops, and former Guantanamo Bay detention camp inmates. Then-President Bill Clinton referenced the film in a 1996 speech to troops stationed in Bosnia. The term was used during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, to refer to the monotony of quarantine and isolation associated with attempts to stem the spread of the virus.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: The narrative concept of someone trapped in a repeating segment of time can be traced back to 1904, and is a popular trope, particularly in science-fiction. "Groundhog Day" was responsible for popularizing the idea to the general public. Time loops have since been used in several films (including "Naken" (2000), "Source Code" (2011), "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014), "Happy Death Day" (2017) and its sequel, and "Palm Springs" (2020)), television shows (including "Russian Doll", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel", and "The X-Files"), and video games (including "", "Outer Wilds" and "Deathloop"). These narratives often involve a central flawed character who must evolve to escape their chronological imprisonment. The influence of "Groundhog Day" is such that TV Tropes refers to this narrative arc as the "Groundhog Day Loop." Rubin noted that with his script, he "stumbled upon a story with all the makings of a classic, so simple and true that it could be retold many different ways by many different storytellers." It has been referenced across a range of media, including the 1998 novel "About a Boy", the music video for the Craig David song "7 Days," and the "Doctor Who" audio drama "Flip-Flop", that features a time loop on the planet Punxsutawnee. Writing for "IGN", Michael Swaim postulated that since "Groundhog Day" popularized the time loop narrative, it had increased in mainstream popularity in part due to the Flynn effect—a statement on the increasing IQ of the population—that meant audiences could easily follow the more complex narratives, and the desire for nostalgia in the postmodern era of the early 21st century.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: On February 2, 2016, fans in Liverpool, England, gathered to watch the film repeatedly for 24 hours. Since February2 that year (apart from 2017), Sky Cinema has played the film on repeat for 24hours. In 2018, the New York Museum of Modern Art debuted a series of films chosen by polling 35 literary and religious scholars, which started with "Groundhog Day". There was conflict between the scholars as so many of them wanted to write about the film for the presentation.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: A direct sequel was ruled out shortly after the film's release in 1993. Rubin also holds a story credit on the 2004 Italian remake of "Groundhog Day", called "È già ieri" (translated as "It's Already Yesterday"), and commonly known as "Stork Day". When asked about a sequel in 2018, MacDowell said it would never happen because "I know [Murray]. He's not going to do it." Despite this, Murray, Tobolowsky, and Doyle-Murray reprised their roles in a commercial for the Jeep Gladiator played during Super Bowl LIV on February2, 2020. Filmed in Woodstock, the commercial recreates scenes from the film, and features Murray again trapped in a time loop. He uses the Jeep Gladiator to explore Punxsutawney alongside Punxsutawney Phil. Murray called it his first and last commercial. In April2020, Jeep released a series of modified versions of the advert to promote social distancing during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Murray provided creative input on the edit.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: In the years since the film's release, Rubin had worked on a musical adaptation of "Groundhog Day", partly out of boredom and partly because a musical was not covered by the rights he had signed over to Columbia. In 2003, Stephen Sondheim expressed interest creating a musical but this project was never realized. When Matthew Warchus and Tim Minchin approached Rubin in 2012, he had already developed a narrative outline, jokes, and a refined list of 12 songs. He had been unable to progress the idea further without a composer. Coming off the success of "Matilda the Musical", Warchus and Minchin collaborated with Rubin for several years to produce the "Groundhog Day" musical. The musical debuted in August2016, at The Old Vic theatre in London to generally positive reviews. A Broadway version started running in 2017. The show was nominated in several categories at the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards, winning Best Actor and Best New Musical. Murray attended a Broadway show in 2017, alongside Doyle-Murray and Rubin.


title: Groundhog Day (film)

text: A video game narrative sequel was released in September 2019. "" was developed by Tequila Works and published by Sony Pictures Virtual Reality for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive. The game casts players as Phil's son, Phil Connors Jr., who has grown up in the shadow of his beloved father. Phil Jr. becomes trapped in his own time loop in Punxsutawney and is forced to help others and improve himself to earn his freedom. It received mixed critical reviews.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Dances with Wolves is a 1990 American epic western film starring, directed, and produced by Kevin Costner in his feature directorial debut. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel "Dances with Wolves" by Michael Blake that tells the story of Union Army Lieutenant John J. Dunbar (Costner), who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and who meets a group of Lakota.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Costner developed the film with an initial budget of $15 million. Much of the dialogue is spoken in Lakota with English subtitles. It was shot from July to November 1989 in South Dakota and Wyoming, and translated by Doris Leader Charge, of the Lakota Studies department at Sinte Gleska University.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: The film earned favorable reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Costner's directing, the performances, screenplay, score, cinematography, and production values. It was a box office hit, grossing $424.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest grossing film of 1990, and is the highest-grossing film for Orion Pictures. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards at the 63rd Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It is one of only three Westerns to win the Oscar for Best Picture, the other two being "Cimarron" (1931) and "Unforgiven" (1992).


title: Dances with Wolves

text: It is credited as a leading influence for the revitalization of the Western genre of filmmaking in Hollywood. In 2007, "Dances with Wolves" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Dances with Wolves

text: In 1863, 1st Lieutenant John J. Dunbar is wounded in battle at St. David's Field in Tennessee. The surgeon intends to amputate Dunbar's leg; choosing death in battle instead, he takes a horse and rides up to and along the Confederate lines. Confederate forces fire repeatedly at him and miss, and the Union Army takes advantage of the distraction to mount a successful attack. Dunbar receives both a citation for bravery and medical care that allows him to keep his leg. He is subsequently awarded Cisco, the horse that carried him during his suicide attempt, and his choice of posting. Dunbar requests a transfer to the western frontier, so he can see it before it disappears.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Dunbar is transferred to Fort Hays, a large fort commanded by Major Fambrough, who despises Dunbar's enthusiasm. He agrees to post Dunbar to the furthest outpost under his jurisdiction, Fort Sedgwick, and raises a glass to Dunbar's exit. Unbeknownst to Dunbar, Fambrough, who is severely mentally ill and has been issuing arbitrary orders with no records kept, kills himself almost immediately after Dunbar's departure. Dunbar travels with Timmons, a mule-wagon provisioner. They arrive to find the fort deserted. Despite the threat of nearby native tribes, Dunbar elects to stay and man the post himself.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: He begins rebuilding and restocking the fort, preferring the solitude, recording many of his observations in his diary. Timmons is killed by Pawnee on the journey back to Fort Hays. The deaths of both Timmons and Fambrough leave the army unaware of Dunbar's assignment, and no other soldiers arrive to reinforce the post.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Dunbar encounters his Sioux neighbors when they attempt to steal his horse and intimidate him. Deciding that being a target is a poor prospect, he seeks out the Sioux camp and attempts dialogue. On his way, he comes across Stands with a Fist. Captured from her white family, she was adopted and assimilated as the daughter of the tribe's medicine man Kicking Bird. She is ritually mutilating herself in mourning for her late Sioux husband. Dunbar brings her back to the Sioux to recover. Though the tribe is initially hostile, some of the members soon begin to respect him.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Dunbar gradually establishes a rapport with Kicking Bird, the warrior Wind in His Hair, and the youth Smiles a Lot, initially visiting each other's camps. The language barrier frustrates them, and Stands with a Fist acts as an interpreter, although with difficulty. She only remembers a little English from her early childhood before the rest of her family was killed during a Pawnee raid.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Dunbar discovers that the stories he had heard about the tribe were untrue, and he develops a growing respect and appreciation for their lifestyle and culture. Learning their language, he is accepted as an honored guest by the Sioux after he tells them of a migrating herd of buffalo and participates in the hunt. When at Fort Sedgwick, Dunbar befriends a wolf he dubs "Two Socks" for its white forepaws. Observing Dunbar and Two Socks chasing each other, the Sioux give him the name "Dances with Wolves". During this time, Dunbar also forges a romantic relationship with Stands with a Fist and supplies the tribe with firearms to help defend the village from an attack by the rival Pawnee tribe. Dunbar eventually wins Kicking Bird's approval to marry Stands with a Fist and abandons Fort Sedgwick.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Because of the growing threat from the Pawnee and the U.S., Chief Ten Bears decides to move the tribe to its winter camp. Dunbar decides to accompany them, but must first retrieve his diary from Fort Sedgwick, as he realizes that it would provide the army with the means to find the tribe. When he arrives, he finds the fort reoccupied by the U.S. Army. Because of his Sioux clothing, the soldiers open fire, killing Cisco and capturing Dunbar, arresting him as a traitor.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Two officers interrogate him, but Dunbar cannot prove his story, as a corporal has found his diary and kept it to use as toilet paper. Having refused to serve as an interpreter to the tribes, Dunbar is charged with desertion and transported back east as a prisoner. Soldiers of the escort shoot Two Socks when the wolf attempts to follow Dunbar, despite Dunbar's attempts to intervene.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Eventually, the Sioux track the convoy, killing the soldiers and freeing Dunbar. They assert that they do not see him as a white man, but as a Sioux warrior called Dances with Wolves. At the winter camp, Dunbar decides to leave with Stands with a Fist because his continuing presence would endanger the tribe. As they leave, Smiles a Lot returns the diary, which he recovered during Dunbar's liberation, and Wind in His Hair shouts to Dunbar, reminding him that he is Dunbar's friend, a contrast to their original meeting where he shouted at Dunbar in hostility.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: U.S. troops are seen searching the mountains, but cannot locate Dunbar or the tribe, while a lone wolf howls in the distance.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: An epilogue states: "Thirteen years later—their homes destroyed, their buffalo gone—the last band of free Sioux submitted to white authority at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. The great horse culture of the plains was gone, and the American frontier was soon to pass into history."


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Originally written as a speculative script by Michael Blake, it went unsold in the mid-1980s. However, Kevin Costner had starred in Blake's only previous film, "Stacy's Knights" (1983) and encouraged Blake in early 1986 to turn the Western screenplay into a novel to improve its chances of being produced. The novel was rejected by numerous publishers, but finally was published in paperback in 1988. The rights were purchased by Costner, with an eye on directing it.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Costner and his producing partner, Jim Wilson, had difficulty in raising money for the film. The project was turned down by several studios due to the Western genre no longer being popular, following the disastrous box office of "Heaven's Gate" (1980), as well as the length of the script. After the project languished at both Nelson Entertainment and Island Pictures due to budget reasons, Costner and Wilson enlisted producer Jake Eberts to manage foreign rights in several countries for Costner to retain final cut rights. The two then made a deal with Orion Pictures, in which the studio would distribute the film in North America.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Actual production lasted from July 17 or 18 to November 21 or 23, 1989. Most of the movie was filmed on location in South Dakota, mainly on private ranches near Pierre and Rapid City, with a few scenes filmed in Wyoming. Specific locations included the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills, the Sage Creek Wilderness Area, and the Belle Fourche River area. The bison hunt scenes were filmed at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch outside Fort Pierre, South Dakota, as were the Fort Sedgewick scenes on a custom set.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: "Dances with Wolves" proved instantly popular, earning $184 million in U.S. box office and $424 million in total worldwide. , the film holds an approval rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 129 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: ""Dances with Wolves" suffers from a simplistic view of the culture it attempts to honor, but the end result remains a stirring western whose noble intentions are often matched by its epic grandeur." Metacritic gave the film a score of 72 out of 100 based on 20 critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: "Dances with Wolves" was named one of the top ten films of 1990 by over 115 critics and was named the best film of the year by 19 critics.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Because of the film's popularity and lasting impact on the image of Native Americans, members of the Lakota Sioux Nation held a ceremony in Washington D.C., "to honor Kevin [Costner] and Mary [McDonnell] and Jim [Wilson] on behalf of the Indian Lakota nation", explained Floyd Red Crow Westerman (who plays Chief Ten Bears in the movie). Albert Whitehat, a Lakota elder who served as a cultural adviser on the film adopted Costner into his family, and two other families adopted McDonnell and Wilson. Westerman continued, that this is so "They will all become part of one family." At the 63rd Academy Awards ceremony in 1991, "Dances with Wolves" earned 12 Academy Award nominations and won seven, including Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Michael Blake), Best Director (Costner), and Best Picture. In 2007, the Library of Congress selected "Dances with Wolves" for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Some of the criticism of the film centered on the lack of authenticity of the Lakota language used in the film, as only one of the actors was a native speaker of the language. Oglala Lakota activist and actor Russell Means was critical of the film's lack of accuracy. In 2009, he said, "Remember "Lawrence of Arabia"? That was Lawrence of the Plains. The odd thing about making that movie is that they had a woman teaching the actors the Lakota language, but Lakota has a male-gendered language and a female-gendered language. Some of the Natives and Kevin Costner were speaking in the feminine way. When I went to see it with a bunch of Lakota guys, we were laughing."


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Michael Smith (Sioux), the director of San Francisco's long-running annual American Indian Film Festival, said that despite criticisms, "There's a lot of good feeling about the film in the Native community, especially among the tribes. I think it's going to be very hard to top this one." However, Blackfeet filmmaker George Budreau countered, "I want to say, 'how nice'... But no matter how sensitive and wonderful this movie is, you have to ask who's telling the story. It's certainly not an Indian."


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Though promoted as a breakthrough in its use of an Indigenous language, earlier English-language films, such as "Eskimo" (1933), "Wagon Master" (1950), and "The White Dawn" (1974) also have Native dialogue.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: David Sirota of Salon referred to "Dances with Wolves" as a "white savior" film, as Dunbar "fully embeds himself in the Sioux tribe and quickly becomes its primary protector". He argued that its use of the "noble savage" character type "preemptively blunts criticism of the underlying White Savior story. The idea is that a film like "Dances with Wolves" cannot be bigoted or overly white-centric if it at least shows [characters such as] Kicking Bird and Chief Ten Bears as special and exceptional. This, even though the whole story is about a white guy who saves the day."


title: Dances with Wolves

text: In addition to becoming the first Western film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since 1931's "Cimarron", "Dances with Wolves" won a number of additional awards, making it one of the most honored films of 1990.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: The film was released on home video in the United States in September 1991 and beat the rental record set by "Ghost", at 649,000 units. "Dances With Wolves" was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 11, 2011, and was re-released on Blu-ray on January 13, 2015, and again on November 13, 2018.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: "The Holy Road", a sequel novel by Michael Blake, the author of both the original novel and the movie screenplay, was published in 2001. It picks up 11 years after the events of "Dances with Wolves". John Dunbar is still married to Stands with a Fist, and they have three children. Stands with a Fist and one of the children are kidnapped by a party of white rangers, and Dances with Wolves must mount a rescue mission.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Salvador Carrasco was attached to direct the sequel, but the film was not realized. As of 2007, Blake was writing a film adaptation. However, Costner stated in a 2008 interview that he would "never make a sequel". A third book titled "The Great Mystery" was planned, but Blake died in 2015.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Judith A. Boughter wrote: "The problem with Costner's approach is that all of the Sioux are heroic, while the Pawnees are portrayed as stereotypical villains. Most accounts of Sioux–Pawnee relations see the Pawnees, numbering only 4,000 at that time, as victims of the more powerful Sioux."


title: Dances with Wolves

text: The history and context of Fort Hays is radically different from that portrayed in the movie. Historic Fort Hays was founded in 1867, with the being built immediately. Its predecessor, Fort Fletcher (1865–1868), was abandoned for only a few months and then relocated only a short distance in 1866. Fort Hays was founded in Cheyenne territory rather than Sioux. Rather than a desolate site, the fort was host to thousands of soldiers, railroad workers, and settlers from the start. The Kansas Pacific Railway and the settlements of Rome and Hays City were built next to the fort in 1867; each was a perceived violation of Cheyenne and Arapaho territory, resulting in immediate warfare with the Dog Soldiers. The fort was Sheridan's headquarters at the center of the 1867–68 conflict. A historic seasonal Pawnee tipi village had been located only from Fort Hays, but the Pawnee had been excluded from it by other dominant tribes for some time by the 1860s.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: The real John Dunbar worked as a Christian missionary among the Pawnee in the 1830s–40s, and sided with the Native Americans in a dispute with government farmers and a local Indian agent. It is unclear whether the name "John Dunbar" was chosen as a corollary to the historical figure.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: The fictional Lieutenant John Dunbar of 1863 is correctly shown in the film wearing a gold bar on his officer shoulder straps, indicating his rank as a first lieutenant. From 1836 to 1872, the rank of first lieutenant was indicated by a gold bar; after 1872, the rank was indicated by a silver bar. Similarly, Captain Cargill is correctly depicted wearing a pair of gold bars, indicating the rank of captain at that time.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: Author and screenwriter Michael Blake said that Stands with a Fist was actually based upon Cynthia Ann Parker, the white girl captured by Comanches and mother of Quanah Parker.


title: Dances with Wolves

text: One year after the original theatrical release of "Dances with Wolves", a four-hour version of the film opened at select theaters in London. This longer cut was titled "Dances with Wolves: The Special Edition", and it restored nearly an hour's worth of scenes that had been removed to keep the original film's running time under three hours. In a letter to British film reviewers, Kevin Costner and producer Jim Wilson addressed their reasons for presenting a longer version of the film:


title: Dances with Wolves

text: The genesis of the four-hour version of the film was further explained in an article for "Entertainment Weekly" that appeared ten months after the premiere of the original film. "While the small screen has come to serve as a second chance for filmmakers who can't seem to let their babies go, Kevin Costner and his producing partner, Jim Wilson, hope that their newly completed version will hit theater screens first."


title: Tampa, Florida

text: Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County. With a population of 384,959 according to the 2020 census, Tampa is the third-most populated city in Florida after Jacksonville and Miami and is the 52nd most populated city in the United States.


title: Tampa, Florida

text: Tampa functioned as a military center during the 19th century with the establishment of Fort Brooke. The cigar industry was also brought to the city by Vincente Martinez Ybor, after whom Ybor City is named. Tampa was formally reincorporated as a city in 1887, following the Civil War. Today, Tampa's economy is driven by tourism, health care, finance, insurance, technology, construction, and the maritime industry. The bay's port is the largest in the state, responsible for over $15 billion in economic impact.


title: Tampa, Florida

text: The city is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area which is a four-county area composed of roughly 3.1 million residents, making it the second-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state and the fourth largest in the Southeastern United States, behind Washington D.C., Miami, and Atlanta. The Greater Tampa Bay area has over 4 million residents and generally includes the Tampa and Sarasota metro areas. As of 2018, Tampa's annual growth rate is 1.63%.


title: Tampa, Florida

text: When the pioneer community living near the US Army outpost of Fort Brooke was incorporated in 1849, it was called "Tampa Town" and the name was shortened to simply "Tampa" in 1855. The earliest instance of the name "Tampa", in the form "Tanpa", appears in the memoirs of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, who spent 17 years as a captive of the Calusa and traveled through much of peninsular Florida. He described Tanpa as an important Calusa town to the north of the Calusa domain, possibly under another chief. Archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the town of Tanpa at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor. The entrances to Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor are obscured by barrier islands, and their locations, and the names applied to them, were a source of confusion to explorers, surveyors and map-makers from the 16th century through the 18th century. "Bahía Tampa" and "Bahía de Espíritu Santo" were each used, at one time or another, for the modern Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. Tampa Bay was labeled "Bahía de Espíritu Santo" (Bay of the Holy Spirit) in the earliest Spanish maps of Florida, but became known as B. Tampa ("Bahía Tampa" or Tampa Bay) as early as 1576. "B. Tampa", corresponding to Tampa Bay, appeared for the first time on a printed map in Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas's Description del Destricto del Audiencia de la Espanola, from his book Descripcion de las Indias Ocidentales, printed in Madrid in 1601.