Taglines: An engaging comedy about a bachelor and three near Mrs.
Worth Winning movie synopsis. Taylor Worth is a devastatingly handsome and charming weatherman for a Philadelphia television station. A confirmed bachelor, he sees a lot of women and gains the envy of his closest friends.
One of them, Ned Broudy, offers Taylor a wager, that he cannot get three randomly chosen women to fall in love with him over a three-month period of time and accept a proposal of marriage.
Taylor takes the bet, putting up his weekend cabin against a valuable painting that Ned and Clair Broudy own.
Clair knows nothing of the bet, so she is pleased when her husband fixes up Taylor with her friend Veronica Briskow, a concert pianist. Ned is sure that the haughty Veronica will have nothing in common with a shallow TV weatherman, but Taylor does find a way to attract her interest.
The remaining two women Taylor must persuade to fall in love with him are Erin Cooper, a sexy Philadelphia Eagles receptionist, and Eleanor Larimore, an attractive older woman. The choice of Eleanor is a dirty trick on Ned’s part, inasmuch as she is already married.
Eager to teach Ned a lesson, Taylor quickly seduces Erin, then proposes marriage to her in front of a hidden TV camera. This causes jealousy in her protective friend Tarry Childs, who plays for the football team, but he wants Erin to be happy. And although Taylor doesn’t have many scruples, he refuses to sleep with Erin after learning she is still a virgin.
His next mission is Eleanor. It turns out she is unsatisfied at home and a willing participant when Taylor flirts with her while posing as a shoe salesman, engaging him in dangerous sex in public places. She, too, accepts Taylor’s secretly filmed marriage proposal — two down and one to go.
Veronica won’t be easy. She is career-minded and not eager for marriage. Plus the sex between her and Taylor is surprisingly disappointing so far.
The more time they spend together, though, Taylor realizes he doesn’t want to lose Veronica after the wager is won. He proposes at his cabin and she accepts. Clair is delighted, Ned devastated.
Then the real trouble begins. Taylor first needs to break it off with Erin, disappointing her desire to start a family, which he does by pretending to be impotent. Eleanor, alas, is enjoying her improved sex life and brags about it openly to Clair and Veronica.
Worth Winning is a 1989 film starring Mark Harmon, Madeleine Stowe and Lesley Ann Warren, directed by Will Mackenzie. It was written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott, based on the novel by Dan Lewandowski.
Worth Winning (1989)
Directed by: Will Mackenzie
Starring: Mark Harmon, Madeleine Stowe, Lesley Ann Warren, Maria Holvoe, Mark Blum, Andrea Martin, Tony Longo, Alan Blumenfeld, Shannon Lawrence, Russ Bolinger
Screenplay by: Josann McGibbon, Sara Parriott
Production Design by: Lilly Kilvert
Cinematography by: Adam Greenberg
Film Editing by: Sidney Wolinsky
Costume Design by: Robert Blackman
Set Decoration by: Linda Spheeris
Art Direction by: Jon Hutman
Music by: Patrick Williams
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: October 27, 1989
Views: 5572
