Thursday's Ways Not To Die

.

Groundhog Day (1993)

These are the four examples of Phil Connors' multiple deaths that we are shown; in the following scene, wherein he describes to Rita how it's probable he's achieved demi-god status, he also lists having been "stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, ... and burned." That's at least ten deaths altogether. [Count voice] Ten Desperate Suicide Attempts, wah-ah-ah! [/Count voice]

Phil's (Phil? Like the groundhog Phil? Ha!) suicide-apalooza sequence always fascinates me though. He mentions that every time he offs himself he just wakes up again the next morning and it's Groundhog Day again... but is that transition instantaneous? We know it isn't an instantaneous jump for the other characters in the film because we see Rita and Larry identifying his corpse - where is Phil consciousness at that moment? Has it already skipped along to the next alternate reality timeline, and in this identifying-corpse moment we're getting a brief glimpse of what's been left behind - a scattered shower of abandoned realities, each plowing forward into their own different futures while the film we're following just keep skipping to the front? It's a tangle of metaphysical conundrums left in its wake, that's for certain.

Also, Bill Murray is talking to a groundhog! That's silly!

Another little-known fact about this film: This movie is the only documented record in all of recorded history in which Andie MacDowell possesses anything resembling charm or acting ability. Crazy but true.

-------------

Previous Ways Not To Die: Sacrificed To Kali -- Via The Gargantuan Venom Of The Black Mamba Snake -- Turned Into An Evil Robot -- The Out-Of-Nowhere Careening Vehicle Splat -- "Oh My God... It's Dip!!!" -- Critter Balled -- Stuff'd -- A Hot-Air Balloon Ride... Straight To Hell!!! -- Puppy Betrayal -- High-Heeled By A Girlfriend Impersonator -- Flip-Top Beheaded -- Because I'm Too Goddamned Beautiful To Live -- By Choosing... Poorly... -- Fried Alive Due To Baby Ingenuity -- A Good Old-Fashioned Tentacle Smothering -- Eepa! Eepa! -- Gremlins Ate My Stairlift -- An Icicle Thru The Eye -- Face Carved Off By Ghost Doctor After Lesbian Tryst With Zombie Women -- Electrocuted By Fallen Power-Lines -- A Mouthful Of Flare -- Taken By The TV Lady -- Bitten By A Zombie -- Eaten By Your Mattress -- Stuffed To Splitting -- Face Stuck In Liquid Nitrogen -- Crushed By Crumbling Church Debris -- Bitten By The Jaws Of Life -- A Machete To The Crotch -- Showering With A Chain-Saw -- In A Room Filled With Razor Wire -- Pod People'd With Your Dog -- Force-Fed Art -- Skinned By A Witch -- Beaten With An Oar -- Curbed -- Cape Malfunction -- In The Corner -- Cooked In A Tanning Bed -- Diced -- Punched Through The Head -- Bugs Sucking On Your Head
.