Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day (1993)

35 mistakes

(6 votes)

Factual error: The train in the joyride scene is a Burlington Northern locomotive, which would never be found in Pennsylvania.

Deliberate mistake: When Phil wakes up at 6 AM, it's already bright outside. At 6 AM in February, it would still be pitch-dark.

Groundhog Day mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Phil has the groundhog in the truck at the quarry and is about to drive over the edge, Rita's hair is disheveled and sticking out all around her head. But after Phil has driven off the cliff and she's looking down, it's all pinned neatly in place.

Krista

Revealing mistake: When Phil drives the truck off the cliff, you can see right through the grill of the truck (meaning there is no radiator or engine), and the transmission is also missing, as you can see when the truck is falling upside down. Without an engine or transmission it would be hard to drive off a cliff.

Groundhog Day mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: After Phil drives the truck off the cliff, and it explodes in a burst of flames, there is a shot of Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliot staring in shock at the disaster. The two actors are bathed in an orange glow supposedly coming from the flaming wreckage. But in the lens of the TV camera Elliot is holding, there is a noticeable reflection of the lighting equipment used to create the glow effect on the actors. (01:04:15)

Groundhog Day mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Phil comes around the corner, just before meeting Ned, there are two women walking together in the background. The one in blue is holding a yellow sign upside down that says Phil (the groundhog, not the character). The first 3 days in a row they are together as they should be. On the fourth day and every day thereafter the woman in blue is by herself which does not follow the exact day sequences. (00:21:25 - 00:35:25)

chiefs58

Continuity mistake: When Phil is playing the piano at the party, he is wearing a pair of RayBan Wayfarer sunglasses. When he takes them off and sets them on the piano, they have turned into RayBan Baloramas.

Verbal

Continuity mistake: When Phil looks out the window on the first Groundhog Day, he sees the right-turning truck outside the window just as the radio people shout "Groundhog Day", but on the first repeat of the day, the same scene outside the window occurs only after this exclamation is made. It couldn't be altered by him because he had just woken up.

Continuity mistake: In the shot where Phil, Gus and Ralph exit the bowling alley, Gus is having trouble putting on his coat and leaves his tee shirt exposed in the back. After he takes Ralph's keys, he walks away from the camera, his jacket is straight and his shirt pulled down.

Revealing mistake: When Phil escapes the police with his drunk friends in the car, their stunt doubles' different faces are visible as they start driving on the tracks.

Continuity mistake: The second time Phil and Rita are building a snowman, the snowman's head is a different size and shape in the wide shot, the reverse shot, and the closeup. (This mistake occurs in a single day, it is NOT about the difference between different days.)

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Bill Murray has stolen the Groundhog and is driving away with it in the red truck, the police car and the TV van chase it. There is a shot of the red truck going under a low bridge, and then a long shot of all 3 vehicles. There is no way the TV van could have gotten under that bridge with all the stuff on its roof, and yet in the very next shot it is seen continuing the chase.

David Mercier

Continuity mistake: When Phil first meets Ned, right as he asks 'Did you turn pro with that belly button thing' there's a close shot of Phil where a man with a yellow hat and red collar walks behind him. In the very next shot, we can see the same man approaching from further down the street, then passing behind Phil again. (00:10:40)

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.

Quantom X

Audio problem: When Phil is playing the piano with the jazz group, we hear three glissandos (dragging of the fingers over the keys starting from high to low), yet we see his hands only do one. We hear the first two happen while we see his hands playing something different.

Matty Blast

Continuity mistake: On Day 2, Phil makes a cup of coffee before leaving the hotel. He carries it out of the hotel in his bare hand. When he comes out of the hotel he has his gloves on. (00:24:15)

JonMunz

Factual error: Phil departs from the office right after the 5pm news. Punxsutawney is over 90 minutes' drive from Pittsburgh. The sunset in Punxsutawney in early February is about 5.30pm, so by the time they get there it should be completely dark. But it's bright daylight, without even a hint of twilight. (00:05:45)

Other mistake: Focusing on the clock as it turns to 6:00, one clock has a visible gear in the middle of the numbers. At other times, no gear.

Phil: You wanna throw up here, or you wanna throw up in the car?
Ralph: I think... Both.

More quotes from Groundhog Day
More trivia for Groundhog Day

Question: When Phil and the two locals are driving on the railroad tracks, they are closely followed by a police unit. Phil drives off the tracks at a crossing where the tracks became level with the street surface. How did the police car get out from in front of the train?

scwilliam

Answer: We know the police car survived because unit 2 is the car that followed them onto the tracks, and unit 2 is also one of the cars present when they are stopped (though it came from the wrong direction). The movie doesn't explain how the car survived so it is left to the viewer's imagination.

jimba

Chosen answer: It was never explained in the film but there could be two possible explanations. One is the police car never got off the tracks in time and was hit by the train. Another is the car managed to get off the tracks in time despite the difficulty of getting off a railroad track so quickly. Up to the viewer to decide.

Gavin Jackson

More questions & answers from Groundhog Day

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