The Mean Season **** (1985, Kurt Russell, Mariel Hemingway, Richard Jordan, Richard Masur, Richard Bradford, Joe Pantoliano, Andy Garcia) – Classic Movie Review 7652

Director Phillip Borsos’s 1985 neo noir The Mean Season is a gripping, powerful, atmospheric crime thriller with an excellent role for Kurt Russell as Malcolm Anderson, the Miami newspaper reporter used as a public mouthpiece by a psychotic killer from his latest article, who phones him to say he is going to kill again. Mariel Hemingway plays the hero’s school teacher girlfriend Christine.

Based on John Katzenbach’s novel In the Heat of Summer, the haywire plotting veers off track at times, but the humid Florida settings, the strong central characters, the stalwart acting and the taut direction by Borsos comfortably keep the film on course.

Also in the cast are Richard Jordan, Richard Masur, Richard Bradford, Joe Pantoliano, Andy Garcia, Rose Portillo, and William Smith.

The Mean Season is directed by Phillip Borsos, runs 103 minutes, is made by David Foster Productions, Turman-Foster Company, released by Orion, is written by Christopher Crowe, based on John Katzenbach’s novel In the Heat of Summer, is shot by Frank Tidy, is produced by Larry Turman and David Foster, is scored by Lalo Schifrin, and is designed by Philip Jefferies.

The title refers to the start of summer in Miami.

Phillip Borsos died of leukemia on 2 February 1995 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, aged 41.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7652

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