Chris Elliott | Through the Shattered Lens

Happy Groundhog Day! For the record, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today so get ready for six more weeks of winter!

Oh, how I love Groundhog Day. I really do. It’s perhaps the silliest holiday that we have in America and I absolutely adore the whole thing. I love the fact that people get dressed up for it. I love that there are people who plan their entire weekend around seeing what the groundhog predicts. I love that we all know there’s no way a groundhog can reasonably predict the weather but, for one day, we pretend like it can. And while Groundhog Day itself had its beginning in Germany, the holiday really has become pure Americana. It’s such an innocent holiday, or at least it is now that Bill de Blasio is no longer in a position to kill the magic groundhog.

(Boo de Blasio! Boo!)

Of course, no Groundhog Day is complete without watching the 1993 comedy of the same name. The film has become such a major part of American culture that even people who haven’t watched it know what it’s about. (It’s a bit like It’s A Wonderful Life in that way.) Bill Murray plays Phil Connors, a cynical weatherman who is sent to cover Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney and finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. Every morning, it’s once again February 2nd. Sonny and Cher’s I Got You Babe plays on the radio. Phil is approached by Ned Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky), an annoying former classmate turned insurance salesman. Phil steps in the same puddle. He finds himself covering the same story and, again and again, he’s stranded by the same blizzard. At first, Phil is angry. Even multiple suicides can’t stop the cycle. Kidnapping the groundhog can’t stop the cycle. Then, he decides to take advantage of living the same day over and over again. He gets to know the people in the town and realizes that they’re not so bad. He saves the mayor (Brian Doyle-Murray) from choking at dinner but, in the film’s most poignant moment, realizes that an old homeless man is going to die regardless of how many times he tries to save him. Phil learns how to learn the piano. He learns how to speak French. And, most importantly, he falls in love with Rita (Andie MacDowell). Of course, when he tells Rita this, she assumes he’s just trying to take advantage of her. Rita says that they barely know each other but what she doesn’t realize is that Phil has been spending day-after-day with her.

As you might have guessed I relate to Rita. She loves the silliness of the holiday and so do I. I also relate to Nancy Taylor (Marita Geraghty), just because of her determination to enjoy the day no matter what. That said, this is totally Bill Murray’s film and this is one of his best performances, one in which he expertly mixes his trademark comedy with some very poignant drama. One thing I like about this film is that Phil becomes a better man as a result of living the same day over and over again but it doesn’t totally change his personality. At the end, he’s still the same sarcastic smartass that he was at the start of the film but he’s no longer a cynic. He’s learned how to appreciate other people. He’s fallen in love. Much like George Bailey, he’s become the richest man in town. This is a rare film where the main character is as interesting after he’s reformed as before.

It always breaks my heart a little to read that Bill Murray and director Harold Ramis had a difficult time working together while making this film. It’s truly a perfect film and that’s due to both Murray’s performance and Ramis’s heartfelt direction. I’m also glad that Ramis and Murray made up before Ramis passed away. Life’s too short and sadly, unlike in the movies, we don’t always get a chance to go back and correct the past.

Groundhog Day is a holiday classic and may it continue to be watched for decades to come.

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

This week is all about justice for Zito!

Episode 3.13 “Down For The Count: Part Two”

(Dir by Richard Compton, originally aired on January 16th, 1987)

Picking up where last week’s episode ended, Down For The Count: Part Two finds almost the entire Vice Squad mourning the death of Larry Zito. I say “almost” because, as usual, Castillo refuses to show any emotion or even look anyone in the eye. When he first appeared, Castillo’s stoicism made him an interesting character but I have to admit that I’m starting to get a bored with the character and his refusal to speak in anything more than terse growls. ZITO’S DEAD! WAKE UP, CASTILLO!

Switek, needless to say, is heart-broken. Trudy tells Gina that she had a totally meaningless one night stand with some guy she met at a club because she was depressed. (“Did it make you feel better?” Gina asks. “No!” Trudy wails.) Crockett is determined to take down crooked boxing promoter Oswaldo Guzman (Pepe Serna) and prove that Zito was not a junkie but that he was instead murdered by Guzman’s goons. As for Tubbs, he makes a few jokes. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU, TUBBS!? ZITO’S DEAD!

Crockett and Tubbs go undercover as Burnett and Cooper and, once again, I find myself wondering how they can keep successfully doing that when their cover has gotten blown over a dozen times over the course of the series. Do criminals in Miami not talk to each other? This time, Crockett pretends to be involved with a cable sports network that wants to make a deal to air the fights that Guzman sponsors. When a Las Vegas gangster named Guilinni (former Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro) shows up looking to kill Guzman, Crockett and Tubbs effortlessly manipulate both sides. It turns out that criminals aren’t that smart.

Meanwhile, Trudy and Gina meet one of Crockett’s associates from the Vietnam War. His name is Danny Allred (Chris Elliott) and he’s a former CIA agent who now lives in an abandoned airplane. Danny is a codebreaker and he helps them to figure out the code that Guzman was using to keep track of all of his crooked fights. Danny is a fun character and I hope he shows up in more episodes. He added some moments of levity to what was otherwise a pretty grim episode.

This episode had plenty of good moments. The scene where Crockett and Tubbs visited Zito’s apartment was both poignant and nicely-acted by both Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas. The final shoot-out was violent even by the standards of Miami Vice. That said, I’m a bit surprised that the episode didn’t revolve around Switek. Switek gets to express his anger and argue with Internal Affairs at the start of the episode and gets to repeatedly shoot Guzman at the end of the episode but he’s largely absent for the middle part of the story. As Switek was both Zito’s partner and his best friend, it really does seem like he should have been at the center of the entire episode.

Still, I was glad that Zito’s name was cleared and that Guzman ended up getting shot multiple times until he fell out a window. The show’s final credits featured still shots of John Diehl as Zito. I’m going to miss Larry.