The Mean Season is a 1985 American thriller directed by Phillip Borsos. The film stars Kurt Russell, Mariel Hemingway, Richard Jordan, Richard Masur, Joe Pantoliano, and Andy García. The screenplay was written by Leon Piedmont, based on the novel In the Heat of the Summer by John Katzenbach.

The film was named after the term of the same name that refers to a pattern of weather that occurs in Florida during the late summer months. In order to achieve accuracy for the scenes that take place in the busy newsroom, the filmmakers used Miami Herald reporters as on-set consultants and extras and shot in the actual newsroom as opposed to recreating it on a soundstage.