Daily Dialogue — September 15, 2013
EXT. MAIN STREET -PUNXSUTAWNEY — CONTINUOUS
There are a lot of people on the street for this hour. Traffic is so heavy in fact, the pedestrians are moving faster than the cars. Everyone seems to be going in the same direction, making the annual trek to see the groundhog.
An OLD BUM is sitting on the sidewalk leaning against a storefront. Someone throws him a coin. Phil walks by without taking any notice.
MAN: (O.C.) Hey, Phil!
A big pie-faced man, NED RYERSON, comes huffing and puffing right up to him. There is something about this guy that makes us dislike him on sight.
NED: Phil! Phil Connors! I thought that was you!
Phil looks at him vaguely.
PHIL: (at a loss) I ‘m sorry. Have we– uh–
NED: My oh my! Phil Connors. Don’t say you don’t remember me, ’cause I sure as heck fire remember you. Well?
Phil stares, trying to remember.
NED: Ned Ryerson? Needlenose Ned? Ned the Head. Come on, buddy. Case Western High?
PHIL: Ned?
NED: I see you clicking through that brain of yours. Click-click, click- click, click-click–Bing! Ned Ryerson, did the whistling trick with my belly button in the talent show. Bing! Ned Ryerson, got the shingles real bad senior year, almost didn’t graduate. Bing again! Ned Ryerson, went out with your sister Mary Pat a couple of times– ’til you told me not to anymore. Well?
PHIL: (resigned) Ned Ryerson.
NED: Bing!
PHIL: So what’re you doing with yourself, Ned?
NED: Phil, I sell insurance.
PHIL: (sorry he asked) No kidding.
NED: Do you have life insurance, Phil? ’Cause if you do, I bet you could use more– who couldn’t?–but I got a feeling you don’t have any. Am I right?
PHIL: You know, Ned, I ‘ d love to talk to you but I really have to–
Phil starts to walk away, but Ned won’t take the hint.
NED: That’s okay. I’ll walk with you. When I see an opportunity, I charge it, like a bull. Ned the Bull, that’s me now. Some of my friends live and die by actuarial tables, but I think it’s all just a crap shoot anyhoo. Ever heard of single premium life? That could be the ticket for you, buddy. God, it’s good to see you! Hey, what’re you doing for dinner?
PHIL: Dinner? Umm, I don’t think that’s going to work for me.
As they continue walking, Phil steps into what looks like a shallow puddle and ends up ankle deep in wet slush. Ned laughs like a donkey.
NED: Hey, look out for that first step! It’s a doozy!
Phil looks at him with murderous contempt.
— Groundhog Day (1993), screenplay by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis, story by Danny Rubin
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is reunion, suggested by Laura Deerfield. Today’s suggestion by plinytheelder_t.
Trivia: Harold Ramis has stated that the inspiration for this movie was NOT the 1905 novel “The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin” by P.D. Ouspensky, but many others think that it was. Ramis made this denial within his contributions to a jacket blurb for one edition of the Ouspensky book. In the book, Osokin is given the opportunity to live his life over again by a magician… and Osokin takes him up on the offer, only to make the same mistakes all over again. Eventually he reaches the point in time where he met the magician, who explains to Osokin that he cannot change the recurring wheel that is “this trap called life”… and that Osokin must learn to sacrifice in order to escape it, to find his salvation.
Dialogue On Dialogue: This movie is perhaps the greatest examples of callbacks ever and the Ned Ryerson subplot is perhaps the best in the movie. Great character played by a great character actor Stephen Tobolowsky.