Rita: Why would anybody steel a groundhog?
Larry: I could probably think of a couple of reasons... Pervert.
Quantom X
6th Aug 2019
Groundhog Day (1993)
5th Aug 2019
Groundhog Day (1993)
Question: This might be a silly question but it did puzzle me just a little bit. The old man in the film, when Phil first starts to care for him he starts referring to him as Dad and Pops. Is there supposed to be any actual relation between them, or is he just referring to him as this as sort of a kind title?
5th Aug 2019
Groundhog Day (1993)
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of day 3 when Phil is drinking at the bowling ally, Gus says he pegs Phil as a glass half empty kind of guy. Phil is looking partly in his direction to his own left when he's saying this. When the camera cuts to a close up, Phil is looking straight ahead and then turns his head.
5th Aug 2019
Groundhog Day (1993)
Other mistake: On the second day, Phil did his same tasks at about the same time as the previous day, so everything lining up the same made sense. However, on day 3, he quickly rushes out of his hotel, avoiding interacting with most of the people he did before and gets to the street with the beggar much sooner than he did before. Yet Ned still is there crossing the street and sees him exactly the same as before. However with Phil having skipped so much he would have gotten there and passed that spot a good while before Ned would have gotten there, and they should not have had the exchange again on day 3. Same thing for when he arrives at the Groundhog Festival, with Rita greeting him like he's late. But he would have gotten there much sooner this time.
5th Aug 2019
Groundhog Day (1993)
Continuity mistake: After Phil gets done with the weather report and then talking about his plans for the next day, he goes off to the side talking to some other men. He looks back and sees Rita playing with the blue screen. She looks over to her right at the TV which turns her head to the left of the camera. But then it suddenly cuts to what the TV is seeing and she's looking straight ahead, which means she'd be looking directly at the camera, and not the TV.
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Answer: I think he is just using them as terms of elderly respect. It would be pretty callous even for Phil to completely disregard the homeless man at the beginning of the film if he was some sort of relative. The old man also does nothing to indicate a shared history between them.
Phaneron ★
It was a common term that was often used in the early-to-mid 20th century where a kindly, older man would affectionately be referred to as "Pops." In movies of that era, there was often a minor character referred to in this way, particularly if no-one knew his name (i.e. the stage doorman, the custodian, etc).
raywest ★