One More for the Groundhog

Periodically, we hear about "Desert Island" questions -- If you were on a desert island, what one book would you want?  Or what records would you take?  Or what movie would you want to have.

All of the other questions aside, when it comes to movies, I think that my Desert Island film would likely be Groundhog Day.

It's not that it's my favorite movie.  It isn't, though I certainly like it a lot.  And it isn't that I think it's The Best movie -- it's very good, but it's not that good.

The reason why it's my Desert Island movie is that if the very point of the question is that you're going to be stranded for many years and you only have one movie to watch over and over and over and over and over and over again -and apparently have the electricity to run it -- Groundhog Day  is a movie that's specifically made to be seen over and over and over and over again.  The very point of the movie is the same story repeated endlessly, and you watch the same scenes over and over.  And so, it's construction is built in a way that makes those repetitions not only watchable, but fun.  

There are other movies that are classics, brilliantly made and a joy to watch many times.  But there's a difference between watching many times -- lets say 20 or 30 times, or ever more -- and watching endlessly, many hundreds (or even a thousands) of times over years or decades.  No matter how great a movie is, eventually it's going to get tedious the 40th time you've seen it that year.  Groundhog Day will likely get tedious, too, eventually -- perhaps after the 300th viewing -- but its foundation gives you a better chance that it will take longer to get to that point.  And even then, when it does finally start to get tedious, you'll appreciate the story all the more and begin to empathize with it...

As you might imagine, I've seen Groundhog Day a lot.  But I haven't even seen this scene.  That's because it was cut from the final movie.  

The scene is fun, though it's pretty clear why it was cut and I think rightly so.  It's not necessary to the story, although it's enjoyable to see new material.  It also comes from Phil's "dark period" and is more directed towards others than himself, so they likely didn't want to too far in that direction.  And also they probably figured they had enough in this sequence..  What I wonder is if the scene pays off in some way later.