Maybe you didn't know Mark Harmon was a big star in the 1980s

Ok, prior to lockdown I had watched maybe three episodes of NCIS, it seemed like a fine show but as an ex-cop, I tend to be overly critical of pretty much every policing drama. Anyway, I exhausted a lot of other shows and thought I’d better give NCIS a crack. Again, it wasn’t bad, especially with Mark Harmon in the lead but there were other shows I would probably seek out instead.

It did, however, remind me of some of the movies I had watched in the 1980s with Mark Harmon in the lead roles and the nostalgia took me back to them again. These three stood out for me.

Summer School

Harmon plays Freddy Shoop, the goofy, cool gym teacher who gets caught teaching summer school to a bunch of misfits so that he can secure tenure. He has never taken teaching seriously and only got into it so that he could have summers off, now he’s got to straighten up and fly right, whilst also getting his kids to do the same.

Harmon’s character is also trying to woo fellow teacher, Robin Bishop, played by Kirstie Alley, she’s a teacher that takes teaching seriously and despises Shoop’s lackadaisical attitude. He has two students that dream of being horror film directors, the foreign exchange student, the pregnant student, and the high school student who falls in love with the teacher (yes very To Sir, with love). Played by Courtney Thorne-Smith who was 20 years old at the time.

There are some solid laughs in there. Has it aged well? Probably not, but approach it with a view to studying what life was like in the 1980s.

The Presidio

If you don’t know The Presidio then maybe you weren’t alive in the 1980s. Maybe you didn’t go down to your local video shop and say “Hey that movie has Mark Harmon, Meg Ryan, and Sean Connery I HAVE to watch that movie!”

Yeah, that’s right top three billing had Mark Harmon, the woman that played Goose’s wife in Top Gun two years earlier (When Harry met Sally came out the next year), and James fricking Bond! You can’t go wrong with a combo like that.

Harmon plays Jay Austin, a San Francisco detective and former MP who is called in to investigate a string of murders that started on The Presidio army base and cross-over into San Francisco. Lieutenant Colonel Alan Caldwell, played by Connery is the hard provost marshal and Austin’s former commanding officer. They dislike each other and when Austin starts dating the Colonel’s daughter Donna Caldwell (played by Ryan), their relationship goes from bad to worse.

There is witty banter between Connery and Harmon and some decent action scenes, including Connery beating the living daylights out of a guy with his thumb.

Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell: Now, are you sure you want to have a fight? Because I'm only gonna use my thumb.

Bully in Bar: Thumb?

Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell: My right thumb. Left one's much too powerful for you.

IMDB doesn’t seem to rate it as highly as I do, but there’s plenty to like about it if you give it a chance.

Stealing Home

Now look this is going to be a contentious call. It’s about baseball and death. Two things I am not a huge fan of, and yet I love this movie. In fact, I recently re-watched it again after my own Father’s death (sort of a pressing on a bruise scenario).

Harmon plays Billy Wyatt, a washed-up ex-baseball player who must return to his hometown after a family friend, Katie Chandler, played by Jodie Foster, commits suicide. Wyatt has been entrusted with dealing with her ashes, and along the way, he remembers his childhood, particularly reminiscing about his long-standing love for Katie.

Katie was so wild, and she hated rules. That's why she was the best babysitter of all time.

In an effort to figure out what to do with Katie's ashes, Billy comes home to see his mother and sister (played by a young Helen Hunt). The movie skips between decades, when Billy was a teenage boy, losing his virginity to the girl his best friend has a crush on, his father dying, quitting baseball until Katie talks him into playing again and finding his way in the world. There are some very questionable scenes including a mature woman (played by Beth Broderick who you may remember as one of the aunts on Sabrina the Teenage Witch) seducing Billy’s best friend Alan Appleby.

When we return to modern times Billy reconnects with Alan, played by Harold Ramis, it is a true testament to life-long friends. It is a study of how young loves never die, and what we can do in our lives to eventually overcome trauma.

If you want to have a cry or a laugh, this movie has both. There is redemption along the way and a re-kindling of past flames.

I know Harmon was big in TV shows including St. Elsewhere, Charlie Grace, Chicago Hope, and The West Wing (when Simon Donovan died I think all of our hearts broke that day), but don't forget about his notable movie career as well.

There are plenty more titles you can check out if you are interested.