If you’ve read anything I’ve written in the past, it may not surprise you to learn that I had never seen ‘Groundhog Day.’

The movie came out in 1993, and I just didn’t watch a ton of movies in those years - if I was going to spend a couple of hours watching something, it would most likely be a sporting event.

So, even though I feel like it was on WPIX all the time - I remember seeing the image I used there at the top in TV Guide quite often - somehow I avoided watching it.

So I thought it would be fun to watch ‘Groundhog Day’ on Groundhog Day. I found it on Amazon, I was able to rent it for just a couple of bucks, and the girls were nice enough to keep a window of time open to watch it with me on Sunday.

I thought I’d remember little snippets as I watched, but I apparently didn’t even watch bits and pieces of the movie for all these years, because I recognized nothing.

I did know a lot about it, though - Ned Ryerson, for some reason; Sonny and Cher; the basic premise - but I didn’t know how he broke the loop (or how dark it got at times as Bill Murray’s character came to grips with his situation).

I guess it’s been 32 years so I can’t really be a spoiler anymore, but I’ll still issue a spoiler alert as I delve into some of the things on my mind:

Was the loop a punishment for him being a self-centered guy? Was the fact that he did things for others the thing that finally broke the loop? Because he did do things for others, but he kind of did all of those things for others for himself to look better in front of Rita, didn’t he? Or is this a commentary on philosophers and ethics and the ol’ “is anybody really selfless if being selfless brings you a sense of satisfaction”?

I guess I’ll look these things up after I write about them. I also wondered how many days Phil Connors spent repeating. We saw a lot (there were times I thought the movie dragged and a couple of his days could have been cut down), but there were still others that we didn’t see, because he would refer to them having happened that weren’t in the movie, like the kid falling out of the tree…like him learning how to sculpt ice…like him learning to play the piano.

I know I’m overthinking it…but I did talk to my daughters about it later on and they remembered the old man, which I had forgotten. He couldn’t help that guy, but he could help others. So maybe it’s just simply the fact that he learned to help others.

Also, I thought the bartender was going to turn out to be someone who gave him advice on getting out of the loop. He had a knowing look at one point and I thought he was going to be a major factor. That would be a good movie.

I’ll tell you what I didn’t know - I didn’t know Chris Elliott was in the movie, and he played it pretty straight. I was surprised by that - he did a really good job. I’ve always liked Chris Elliott.

Also, fun fact from watching the credits: The opening title song (I think that’s where it played) is called something like “The Weatherman” and it was written by Harold Ramis, the director, so I assume he wrote it for the movie.

OK. I’ll look it up.

First of all…AI is incredibly stupid sometimes:

Secondly, the facts are correct. The song is just called “Weatherman,” and Ramis co-wrote it, but I was correct just from reading the credits.

And thirdly, the Google search revealed that apparently ‘Groundhog Day’ led to a rift between Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. I have more reading to do, I guess.

Bottom line: I’m glad I finally saw Groundhog Day.

It’s not on TV nearly as much as I remember it being on years ago, but I’ll still say this - apropos, since the movie involves the same day repeating over and over - I don’t feel a strong desire to watch it again.

Experiencing it once is enough for me.

[Well, that was a nice tidy ending and a good line to close on, but after reading all about the movie maybe I’ll have to watch it again at least one more time. Pretty fascinating stuff. I didn’t realize the movie was as highly regarded as it is.]