Nearly 15 Years Before ‘NCIS,’ Mark Harmon Starred in a Completely Forgotten Comedy Flop

Long before his days on NCIS, Mark Harmon embarked on a feature film career with the 1987 comedy Summer School, which was a modest box-office success. However, the commercial and critical failure of the 1988 starring vehicles The Presidio and Stealing Home seriously damaged Harmon’s bid for movie stardom and left him in desperate need of a box-office hit. He reached a major turning point in his career with the theatrical release of the 1989 romantic comedy film Worth Winning, which marked Harmon’s last chance to establish his commercial viability in feature films.

However, Worth Winning was a dismal failure, forever altering Harmon’s career. While he has made several feature-film appearances over the past 35 years, including his role in the upcoming comedy sequel Freakier Friday, his leading-man status in feature films ended with Worth Winning. Indeed, the only virtuous aspect of Worth Winning is that the film’s failure necessitated Harmon’s return to television, where he has seemingly been able to do no wrong over the course of a 50-plus-year career.