Groundhog Day Page #18

PHIL:

Hey, pick up after your dog!

DOG WALKER:

He hasn't done anything.

PHIL:

He's going to!

(POINTING)

There and there. And there!

Phil continues walking, counting the sidewalk cracks. THREE

NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS notice Phil and walk along, matching him step

for step.

IPHIL:

Two thousand six hundred and

seventy-four, two thousand six

hundred and seventy-five, two

THOUSAND'--

JOEY:

Five million eight hundred--

PHIL:

S i x hundred--

MIKE AND SUE:

Ninety, twenty, four, six, fifty--

-76-

PHIL:

Two thousand, four hundred--

JOEY, MIKE AND SUE

Two, eight, nine, forty-six--

Phil stops. He has lost count. His lip curls up like an

animal as he turns slowly, growling at the kids. They run away

screaming with glee. Phil starts after them but runs right

into a COP.

COP:

You got a problem, buddy?

PHIL:

(out of control)

Yeah, I got a problem, buddy! I

can't stand this place anymore!

I can't stand this street and I

can't stand the fourteen bars and

the five banks and the one star

food and the bad weather and the

"quaint" little shops and most of

all, I can't stand anything--

ANYTHING-- with a groundhog on

it.

He rips a groundhog patch off the cop's jacket sleeve.

COP:

(CALMLY)

Okay. Then let's see what we can

do about getting you out of here.

You got a name?

PHIL:

(eyes downcast)

Phil.

COP:

Phil. Like the groundhog!

Phil turns to the cop like a rabid dog, ready to strike.

PHIL:

Yeah, like the--

(he stops as if struck)

--groundhog.

Some big new idea has formed in his mind.

CUT TO:

EXT . GOBBLER'S KNOB - EARLY MORNING

Rita is looking at Phil as Larry videotapes his report.

-77-

LARRY:

(turning to Rita)

The guy's nuts. He's out of his

gourd.

RITA:

Let him finish, then I'll call

the station.

They turn back to watch Phil's wrap-up.

Phil is completely unkempt, still wearing only pajama bottoms

and his overcoat, looking even more demented.

PHIL:

(to camera)

There is no way this winter is

ever going to end as long as that

groundhog keeps seeing his shadow

everyday. I don't see any other

way out. He's got to be stopped

and I've got to stop him. For

Channel 9 news, this is Phil

Connors.

CUT TO:

EXT. GOBBLER'S KNOB - NIGHT

Phil is walking around the mound, casing it out. He takes a

rifle out from under his coat and sneaks up to the burrow. He

pulls a smoke bomb from his pocket, lights it, and throws it

into the hole, then scurries for the edge of the knob and hits

the deck. He lifts his rifle and aims it.

Smoke is now pouring from the mound. Lots of it.

Phil waits, his trigger finger twitching.

A WOMAN casually walks by, stops. She surveys the situation.

WOMAN:

He ain't there.

Phil doesn't move. He-doesn't care that she sees him.

WOMAN:

You can wait all night, but he

ain't coming out. He don't live

there. They keep him in the

library.

Phil's gun droops. The woman begins to walk off, then stops.

WOMAN:

Plug him once for me.

-78-

She leaves.

CUT TO:

EXT. CIVIC CENTER - DAY

Phil passes a pedestal bearing a life-size bronze statue of the

groundhog and enters the public library.

INT. LIBRARY - CONTINUOUS

Phil walks past the front desk looking very haggard and

dangerous, and enters the children's section. No one is

present except the CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN, a young woman,

reshelving books in the stacks. He looks around quickly and

sees a window in the wall and over it a large sign which reads:

"Punxsutawney Phil - The Great Prognosticates"

Phil heads right for it.

The groundhog scurries around his little temperature-controlled

habitat, oblivious to the approaching danger.

As Phil approaches the groundhog display, he reaches into his

overcoat and pulls out a pump shotgun with a short pistol grip.

The children's librarian sees the gun and freezes.

Phil pumps a shell into the chamber as he walks right up to the

case.

PHIL'S POV

The groundhog looks right into his sights.

Philsqueezes the trigger. LOUD GUNSHOT.

The glass window is still intact, not a scratch on it. The

groundhog looks up playfully.

Phil fires off four more rounds but, again, no results. Phil

can't believe it. He charges the glass and pounds it with the

rifle butt. He can't even chip it. Suddenly he is seized from

behind by TWO STRONG MEN who take the rifle from him and

wrestle him to floor.

The librarian comes running up and looks at the groundhog.

BYSTANDER:

Is he all right?

LIBRARIAN:

He's just fine. That's two

inches of bullet-proof glass

there. You can't be too careful

in this day and age.

-79-

CUT TO:

EXT. GOBBLER'S KNOB - DAWN

The groundhog is just poking his head out of the hole. He

stands full height and looks around.

Phil looks directly at the groundhog with hate and scheming

madness.

Suddenly, Phil whips out a big kitchen knife from under his

icoat and dives at the groundhog. Town officials and police

throw themselves on Phil as the groundhog scampers safely back

into his hole.

Rita and Larry videotape the incident, aghast at Phil's insane

attack.

CUT TO:

EXT. GOBBLER'S KNOB - ANOTHER DAY

Larry and Rita are loading their equipment back into the van.

Rita spots Phil standing on the other side of the crowd,

staring at her. She marches straight over to him, furious.

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