I use my iPad a lot, probably almost as much as my desktop systems. One of the things I like about it is the versatility, the ability to be lots of things, depending on my needs. When I’m flying cross country, I need to be entertained, so my iPad is full of books, music, and a select few movies. Movies take up a lot of memory, so I only have eight that I always carry with me. Two of the eight are “Groundhog Day,” directed by Harold Ramis, and “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” written (in part) by Harold Ramis.
It was tough to hear that Harold Ramis died today at age 69.
I have very distinct memories of seeing “Animal House” for the first time in a theater in 1978. You hear the phrase, “laughing so hard you fall out of your seat?” That was me, quite literally. I had been there once earlier in the film, when the horse was put into Dean Wormer’s office. (The chain saw put me over the top.) Then came the cafeteria scene, specifically where John Belushi gets to the jello, gives that glance from side to side, and then slurps it right off the plate. I was laughing pretty hard throughout the movie up to that point, but the jello put me on the floor again. I didn’t even know there was a food fight scene that followed until I saw the film again. I was too busy trying to breathe during that scene in the first showing.
If I got stranded on that mythical desert island and could take just two comedies with me, “Animal House” would be one of them. (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” would probably be the second.) Just so many scenes, one after another. Just running through it in my head, I’m starting to chuckle again.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Harold Ramis, Chris Miller, and Douglas Kenney wrote that movie.
In 1981 I first became aware of Ramis, when he starred in (and wrote) “Stripes”. I’m a huge fan of Bill Murray and while I thought that “Stripes” was a little uneven, there were some amazing bits in it. The scenes where Murray trains his loser squad mates all night in close-order drill and then shows up on the parade ground is wonderful. Murray just chewed up the screen in that stretch (“Blowed up, Sir!”) and Ramis, as he so often did in movies that he wrote, was a sidekick, a co-star at best.
I remember seeing the billboards in early 1984 with the teaser ads showing just a ghost in that “circle-with-a-slash” symbol. Later they started adding, “Who you gonna call?” At first I assumed they were making a live-action version of “Casper, The Friendly Ghost.” Of course, what we got was “Ghostbusters,” also a rock solid masterpiece of comedy. The fact that it had Sigourney Weaver wearing something diaphanous and looking demonic was just gravy.
Again, you saw Ramis as one of the “other” guys. Murray and Aykroyd were the stars, Weaver was the beautiful damsel in distress, and, oh yeah, there was Doctor Egon Spengler also.
“Ghostbusters 2” was the rare sequel that was just as good as the original. Ramis wrote and acted in both, along with Aykroyd and others.
The next time you watch one of the “Ghostbusters” movies, pay attention to Ramis. Listen to the little asides that he has, almost hidden away. Murray and Aykroyd and Zool and Vigo are off destroying New York City to our delight, while Egon sidles up behind us and asks, deadpan, “Would you mind if I take a sample of your brain?”
All of those favorite movies would be more than enough to make today’s news a shock.
Then there’s 1993’s “Groundhog Day.”
I know that it’s a comedy. Chris Elliot seeing the truck going off the cliff into the quarry, noting “He could have survived,” then as the truck goes up in a ball of fire, “Well, not now!” The puddle. The groundhog. Bill Murray’s interactions with Andie MacDowell. All of the characters in Punxsatawney.
But this is also a deep and thoughtful film about redemption and growth, hiding in the skin of a screwball comedy. Phil Conners is a self-centered jerk, a really unlikable guy, an asshole. The predicament he’s in is at first confusing and then frustrating. What follows is a methodical progression as he selfishly takes advantage of the situation, with the worst of the hedonism and self-indulgence hinted at but done off screen. When he finally realizes even that gets boring and he’s truly trapped, that the miraculous fantasy is actually a nightmare, he tries to escape by any possible means (again with the worst of it off screen) only to fail again and again. When he passes beyond that phase, he hits an absolute low, a miserable existence, but even that doesn’t save him. When he finally decides to better himself, to learn, to grow, to become a decent human being, not because of what it will get for him from others, but because of what it means that he can give to others, then he finds his release.
This is a movie about important lessons in life, lessons that all of us forget too often. Watching this film is a great way to be entertained while we’re being reminded of some fundamental wisdom. There’s a reason that in 2006 “Groundhog Day” was added to the US National Film Registry.
If I was on that island and could only take one film, period, it would probably be this one.
Ramis’ portfolio also included “Caddyshack” which starred Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, but for some reason that never quite tickled my funny bone as much. Go figure. Also, Ramis made “Analyze This” with Billy Crystal and Robert Di Nero which I liked but didn’t love.
When we hear about celebrity deaths, our personal experiences and tastes make a huge difference in how we each respond. There have been actors and musicians who have died in the last couple of years whose work I enjoyed, but it didn’t mean a lot to me personally. On the other hand, when Jim Henson died, when Stan Rogers died, when George Carlin died… Those were dark, dark days for me.
Today, the day Harold Ramis died, will be another. Rest in peace.
I think the first time I became aware of Ramis’ work was
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 