Continuity mistake: In the opening scene Phil is doing a weather report and is wearing a wireless mic on his vest. When they go off-air he jumps up and two seconds later the wireless mic is gone, neither on his vest or in his hands. Taking off both the mic and the transmitter would take longer than two seconds. (00:02:30)
Continuity mistake: When Ned first calls out to Phil, the Gift Shoppe store behind him has a sign in the display window saying "OPEN SUNDAYS 12 to 4", and a white poster in the door window. The remaining three times Ned calls out to Phil with that background, the Open Sunday sign is gone, and the poster in the door has changed to a smaller red sign. Also, vehicle positions have changed slightly, and the black truck's tire sidewall on the left changes position between first and remaining scenes. (00:10:20 - 00:21:25)
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)
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)
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)
Continuity mistake: A green BIC lighter can be seen standing on end to the right of Phil's plate in the diner, between the plate of flapjacks and plate of eggs. In the next shot, in which Phil drinks directly from the coffee pot, the lighter has vanished. (00:35:10)
Continuity mistake: When the truck goes off the cliff in the quarry, we see it falling in a close shot, then it changes to a wider shot, except the driver's side mirror in the close shot is folded out, while in the wider shot it is folded in. The powder on the tires is also different. (01:03:20)
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
Continuity mistake: When Phil is driving the truck towards the cliff, the wide angles show it leaving a thick cloud of dust. In the close-ups inside the car, the cloud is gone.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie when Rita reaches over Phil to turn off the alarm clock, we know the clock always goes off at 6:00AM. After turning off the alarm 2 1/2 minutes go by while they are talking and the clock should read 6:02, but when the camera pans to the clock it only reads 6:01.
Continuity mistake: When Phil wakes up for the third time he immediately runs out of the hotel without speaking to anyone in order to get to Gobbler's Knob faster but when gets outside the piano teacher is already walking across the street. She shouldn't already be there if Phil went straight from his room to the street.
Continuity mistake: Towards the end of day 3 when Phil is drinking at the bowling ally, Gus says he pegs Phil as a glass half empty kind of guy. Phil is looking partly in his direction to his own left when he's saying this. When the camera cuts to a close up, Phil is looking straight ahead and then turns his head.
Continuity mistake: After Phil gets done with the weather report and then talking about his plans for the next day, he goes off to the side talking to some other men. He looks back and sees Rita playing with the blue screen. She looks over to her right at the TV which turns her head to the left of the camera. But then it suddenly cuts to what the TV is seeing and she's looking straight ahead, which means she'd be looking directly at the camera, and not the TV.
Continuity mistake: When Phil kidnaps the groundhog the TV van has two intact headlights as it begins to chase Phil. When the van skids to a stop at the quarry, the right headlight is missing as if it had an accident.
Continuity mistake: Two chocolates are shown next to the alarm clock each time the clock is switched off or destroyed. They are in slightly different positions in every shot throughout the movie.
Chosen answer: As you stated, it's never addressed as to whether or not he attempted to leave town. Phil lived through many more days than is shown in the film, so it's possible he left at some point, though there's little reason for him to do so because he wouldn't get far, and, when he wakes up the next morning, he'll be right back in the town.
raywest ★