This is a movie called " The Mean Season " and stars one of the best action actors of today's cinema. Kurt Russell is Malcolm Anderson a Miami reporter working for a Florida newspaper called the Journal. He is suppose to be an experienced hard hitting journalist who's immediate future is to retire his position, get married and move to a small town and settle down. His girlfriend's idea, not his. Unfortunately, a serial killer appears and calls him with the shocking details of a recent murder. Thereafter he is hooked into covering the macabre story for national coverage and that does not sit well with his girlfriend Christine (mariel Hemingway) who is stunning in her role. Richard Jordan is Alan Delour a mad killer out to prove he is not mad at all, but desires some half witted attention from the reading public. Andy Garcia in his debut appearance is Ray Martinez, a police detective. William Smith is Albert O'Shaughnessy, a veteran counselor and is surprisingly good in the small role. But it is Russell who despite his best with his character is less than convincing. The story line is clear cut and chasing Jordon proves elusive. For Russell fans, there is much to be desired and waiting for the finale is disappointing. Still, I like to see Kurt Russell and so the film is sadly relegated to his second string. ****

I fully agree with 'Cabbleaddict' all right... Maybe not QUITE as bad as all that, but definitely NOT a keeper by any means. And YES, I also agree that likely the main culprit here was the director (thus like CA said, not surprisingly the guy did only 2 other films) First thing on looking this up here on IMDb was 'Who the hell is that...???'Basically, pretty much the word 'amateurish' sums up my overall impression. Nice outdoor shots though; after viewing the film and before looking it up I would have sworn due to it's sort of dated execution (even for the time) that it had been made several years before this.As to the one comment in the discussion section, yes, Mariel does indeed look a tad 'Manish' (except for the lovely set displayed in the shower of course : ) but ever since seeing 'PERSONAL BEST' (cough...) I'm afraid that I've been quite taken with her (and that was BEFORE the implants!!!)Okay, okay... sorry to get carried away there... Basically there are MANY films starring these same people, not necessarily together of course, where they are LIGHT YEARS better. You wanna see a good solid Kurt Russell film, see either 'SOLDIER' (for Sci Fi fans) or 'THE THING' of course, for Horror fans, 'DARK BLUE' an excellent Police Drama / Thriller, or the more recent 'THE ART OF THE STEAL'. Another excellent film directed a MILLION times better than this one by the excellent Sidney Lumet, stars Andy Garcia and a lovely cast in 'NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN', another excellent Police Thriller!But, this one... just a '4' I'm afraid...

Malcolm Anderson is a journalist with a local paper in Miami. After reported petty murder after petty murder, Anderson feels tired of the whole thing and is ready to pack it in. Bullied by his boss he covers the murder of a young woman and writes it up. A day later he takes a call from a man claiming to be the killer and offers information on something left in the dead girl's pocket as proof. Anderson goes to the police with this and finds that the "something" is a note saying "number one". Anderson continues to take calls from the man as it becomes clear that he is a serial killer with a specific plan, benefiting from the story of his life while also hoping to help the police bring him in. However the line between reporting and involvement starts to be muddied and Anderson finds himself drawn into the murders.Although it is nothing special and does pretty much what you expect it to, this little thriller is a perfectly serviceable affair. Set against the stormy Miami weather, the plot is reasonably well developed in terms of pacing so that it carries the audience along with it. At times it is very easy to get ahead of it though and it was perhaps a bit longer than the material could cope with. It is pretty engaging for what it is but I can understand why some viewers will have been less than impressed by it – I was in a pretty undemanding mood and found it easy to surf along with it without criticising too much (a rarity for me as many will confirm).The cast are mostly solid and match the material by not really excelling themselves but doing enough to get by. Russell is a good lead but he doesn't manage to convince as his character changes – his internal conflict is never as complex and interesting as the script would like you to think. He is supported by a nicely menacing turn from Jordan, who dominates any scene he is in albeit with a by-the-numbers character. Hemingway is as bland as usual and just doesn't fit in. True she is given little to do but she doesn't help herself one bit. Smaller turns from Garcia, Pantoliano, Masur and others all add a feeling of depth to the cast, which helps a bit.All in all then a by-the-numbers thriller that works well enough to satisfy those looking for just that. The predictable narrative arch means that it should have been paced a bit quicker to prevent the audience overtaking the material, but mostly it moves forward nicely. The cast are solid enough and, although nothing screams out as being special, nothing of significance is particularly weak either.

Kurt Russell has spent most of his career playing a big, dumb oaf (Overboard, Big Trouble In Little China, Tango & Cash, etc.), so it's refreshing to see him in a more serious role. The Mean Season is taken from a novel entitled In The Heat Of The Summer by John Katzenbach (whose other books include Just Cause, later filmed with Sean Connery). The film is a fairly engrossing, if familiar, serial killer story, set in Florida just as the summer ends and the stormy season begins.Miami Journal reporter Malcolm Anderson (Russell) writes a piece about the murder of a woman. Malcolm is getting bored of his job at the Journal and plans to move to pastures new with his girlfriend, teacher Christine Connelly (Mariel Hemingway). However, he receives a mysterious phone call from the murderer, congratulating him on his report and informing him of several more murders that he intends to carry out. Seems the killer wants to use Malcolm as his "conduit to the public". More murders follow, as promised, and each time Malcolm is given exclusive information from the killer. Soon, Malcolm is the toast of the journalistic world - every reporter wants his story, every TV station wants to interview him, and there's even talk of him being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. But the psycho at the centre of the whole business is enraged that his acts are being overlooked in favour of Malcolm's new-found celebrity status. And so he plans to teach Malcolm a lesson.....There's a little suspense in the story, especially when the unseen killer is on the phone to Malcolm. Also the gradual disintegration of Malcolm and Christine's relationship (he's seduced by the media spotlight; she wants him to end his liaisons with the murderer) adds a further layer to the story. The main problem with The Mean Season is that its second-half drifts into the kind of silliness that the first half is so careful to avoid. After setting up an exciting and intriguing premise, this comes as a disappointment. The killer, who has been ruthlessly efficient to this point, suddenly becomes sloppy and tries to make his murders ludicrously elaborate (even though the story has already made it obvious that he's supposed to be unswervingly cold-blooded). Also, the film can't resist one of those clichéd endings - a final frisson, if you like, which has been an overused device since Carrie (1976) - in which the killer "returns from the dead" to terrorise his victims one final time. The Mean Season is an OK thriller, but frustratingly it never quite becomes the first-rate movie that it might have been.