E.W. Swackhamer

Directing

E.W. Swackhamer

Born — Died

1927-01-17 — 1994-12-05

Place of birth

Middletown, New Jersey, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

36 titles

E.W. Swackhamer was an American television and film director with an extensive career spanning several decades. His credits include directing episodes of popular TV series such as MASH*, L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote, Bewitched, and Law & Order. Notably, he directed 27 pilots for television series, 18 of which went into regular production, including Eight Is Enough, Quincy, M.E., and S.W.A.T.. Swackhamer received an Emmy Award for directing the miniseries The Dain Curse during the 1977–78 season. He was married to actress Bridget Hanley and had two daughters.

Known for

Behind the camera

Spider-Man poster
6.3

When an extortionist threatens to force a multi-suicide unless a huge ransom is paid, only Peter Parker can stop him with his new powers as Spider-Man.

Spider-Man

1977

Death at Love House poster
5.0

Donna and Joel Gregory are staying at the estate of Lorna Love while researching a book about the long dead Hollywood goddess. Joel, whose father had a passionate affair with Lorna, becomes obsessed with her. His wife attempts to break the spell which threatens their marriage and their very lives.

Death at Love House

1976

Terror at London Bridge poster
5.4

London Bridge, London, England, 1888: Jack the Ripper dies in the Thames river. London Bridge, Lake Havasu, Arizona, 1985: the last original stone used to rebuild London Bridge is laid and all the city is happy...but then some strange murders start happening. Policeman Don Gregory has some suspects, but when he develops a theory that Jack the Ripper has been resurrected, no one believes him.

Terror at London Bridge

1985

Night Terror poster
6.4

A housewife flees from a policeman's killer on the road between Phoenix and Denver.

Night Terror

1977

In Name Only poster
7.0

In this romantic comedy, an unwed couple who run a wedding planning business discover, to their horror, that the Justice of the Peace who had officiated their first three weddings was only an actor. Hilarity ensues as they set about trying to get these marrieds married...again.

In Name Only

1969

In Name Only poster
7.0

In this romantic comedy, an unwed couple who run a wedding planning business discover, to their horror, that the Justice of the Peace who had officiated their first three weddings was only an actor. Hilarity ensues as they set about trying to get these marrieds married...again.

In Name Only

1969

Death Sentence poster
5.6

A juror on a murder trial begins to believe that the man charged with the crime is innocent — and that the real killer is her own husband.

Death Sentence

1974

The Winds of Kitty Hawk poster
NR

The story of the Wright Brothers and their efforts to invent, build, and fly the world's first successful motor-operated airplane.

The Winds of Kitty Hawk

1978

Cocaine and Blue Eyes poster
4.3

Michael Brennen, a San Francisco private eye gets dragged into a drug-smuggling operation while searching for the girlfriend of a deal client, leading Brennen to a politically prominent family.

Cocaine and Blue Eyes

1983

Gidget Gets Married poster
6.3

Gidget finally gets married and rebels against the social caste system in her new husband's company.

Gidget Gets Married

1972

Gidget Gets Married poster
6.3

Gidget finally gets married and rebels against the social caste system in her new husband's company.

Gidget Gets Married

1972

The Death of Ocean View Park poster
6.6

A group of celebrants find themselves trapped in an amusement park that is being torn apart by a hurricane during a Fourth of July holiday. The real Ocean View Park in Norfolk, Virginia, scheduled for demolition by the city, actually was blown up and burned down during the filming.

The Death of Ocean View Park

1979

The Secret Passion of Robert Clayton poster
6.6

The new DA of a small town is given the job of prosecuting the alleged murderer of a stripper. Unfortunately, his own father is in charge of the defense. To make matters worse, both attorneys are in love with the wife of the accused.

The Secret Passion of Robert Clayton

1992

Brothers-in-Law poster
7.0

T.K. Kenny and Mickey Gubiacci are a highway patrolman and a trucker respectively. Now the two of them don't get along and have nothing in common except for the fact that they are both married to the daughters of Winston Goodhue, and that they don't like him. When Kenny divorces his wife, Goodhue makes it difficult for him to see his son, Win, and would like to keep him away from Win. Goodhue eventually gets Kenny thrown out of the department. Mickey, who has been hauling some illegal loads for Goodhue is arrested and Goodhue convinces his daughter to dump him. And Goodhue takes away his truck. Eventually, Kenny and Mickey get together and decide to get back at Goodhue. And the best way they decide to do that is to throw a monkey wrench into his new development project.

Brothers-in-Law

1985

MacShayne: Winner Takes All poster
5.0

MacShayne is a gambler and small time con-man. After serving a short stretch in jail, he goes to Las Vegas to see his son, but when he gets there, his ex-wife is no longer where she use to live and work and left no forwarding address. Leggett, a recently retired cop, approaches him and tells him that he will help him find his son, if he does something for him. It seems that he is planning to rob a hotel casino and he needs three guys to pull it off. Now two of the guys he recruited has agreed to it but the third is uncertain, so he sets up a poker game wherein MacShayne is suppose to clean him out thus giving Leggett some leverage on him. After doing that he discovers that Leggett is duplicitous and is going stab everybody in the back. So he decides to turn the tables on him.

MacShayne: Winner Takes All

1994

Are You Lonesome Tonight? poster
3.5

A desperate socialite seeks her missing husband, troubled by bad investments and debts, with help from a private eye and the high-priced call girl hubby had been seeing.

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

1992

Desperado: The Outlaw Wars poster
9.0

Duell McCall visits his old girlfriend, Nora, and learns that she gave birth to his child. He wants to stay but he is still a wanted man. So, Sheriff Campbell suggests that if he brings in this notorious criminal, who has been plaguing the territory, he might be able to get a pardon.

Desperado: The Outlaw Wars

1989

Command 5 poster
5.0

A team of special military forces has to save a small town which has been taken hostage by an organization called the Brotherhood.

Command 5

1985

Reward poster
6.5

A dispirited cop chucks his job on the force and, with the help of a college co-ed, sets out to solve the murder of a police colleague who had been his best friend.

Reward

1980

The Return of Desperado poster
7.7

Duell McCall is in New Mexico running afoul of local land baron. McCall pauses long enough in his escape flight to come to the aid of black homesteader who is being victimized by the diabolical Foxworth.

The Return of Desperado

1988

Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang poster
4.5

A remake of the 1975 feature film. Donavan arrives in town and soon finds he is the legal guardian to two kids, Clovis and Celia. He tries to decline but the sheriff insists...

Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang

1982

The Oklahoma City Dolls poster
3.7

Susan Blakey plays Sally Jo Purkey, a factory worker who leads a rebellion among her co-workers for equal rights by forming a company football team for women and hires a down-on-his-luck coach (Eddie Albert) to make them winners.

The Oklahoma City Dolls

1981

MacShayne: Final Roll of the Dice poster
7.5

Reformed con man Jack MacShayne is back, this time as the head of security at the Las Vegas hotel he stayed at in MacShayne: Winner Takes All. As part of his new job, he's charged with protecting a variety of distinguished guests, from the kleptomaniac grandson of the hotel's CEO to the lounge singer whose ex-husband shows up dead. Meanwhile, a senatorial candidate is relying on MacShayne to keep him safe from a deadly hit man.

MacShayne: Final Roll of the Dice

1994

Man and Boy poster
6.7

At the beginning of the 19th century a man and his son settle in Arizona which used to be a frontier state and full of criminals at that time.

Man and Boy

1971

Vampire poster
6.1

Vampire Anton Voytek's lair is disturbed by the ground breaking for a new church. Anton attempts to start a modern life using his hoarded wealth, but finds it's been confiscated by the authorities. He takes revenge on the architect responsible, who in turn, aided by a retired detective, tries to hunt down and destroy Anton.

Vampire

1979

Lookwell poster
8.0

The former star of a cancelled cop TV show solves crimes. The pilot was broadcast on NBC in July 1991 but was not picked up as a series despite being a "personal favorite" of NBC chairman Brandon Tartikoff.

Lookwell

1991

Three for Tahiti poster
10.0

When an opportunity to buy a tourist hotel in Tahiti arises, three friends decide to chuck the American lifestyle and move to the South Seas. Unfortunately the hotel, which they bought sight-unseen, is a ramshackle dump and now they must scramble to avoid going bankrupt.

Three for Tahiti

1970

Carpool poster
4.0

Four strangers are thrown together in a carpool when a bag of money, almost a million dollars, falls from a Brinks truck into their path. Because of circumstances, they are unable to turn in the money, and they struggle over what to do. They are pursued by thieves, the mob, and the police.

Carpool

1983

The Sheriff and the Astronaut poster
1.0

A small town sheriff and an astronaut strike up a romance as they attempt to solve crimes in this unsold pilot/CBS Thursday night movie.

The Sheriff and the Astronaut

1984

No artwork available
9.0

Syndicated TV movie about an American who falls in love in China, shot in Peking.

Peking Encounter

1982

Desperado: Badlands Justice poster
10.0

Alex McArthur returns as cowboy Duell McCall, who wanders the wide frontier in search of the one man who will clear him of a murder charge (What price Fugitive?) Once more, McCall finds himself in a corruption-ridden mining town. Since no one knows his true identity, he is able to establish a modicum of law and order, despite the concerted efforts of greedy land baron John Rhys-Davies. It is only a matter of time, however, before McCall will be forced to move on to other adventures.

Desperado: Badlands Justice

1989

Movin' On poster
5.5

A race car driver and his friend, a motorcycle racer and former POW, join forces to tour the U.S. in search of competition.

Movin' On

1972

Perfect Family poster
7.0

Maggie, a recent widower, hires a housekeeper, Janice, to help her with chores taking care of her two young daughters. With Janice comes her brother Allan who is an alcoholic haunted by the deaths of his wife and daughter. Love blooms between Maggie and Allan much to the dismay of Janice. However, as time wears on the mystery surrounding Allan begins to fall away.

Perfect Family

1992

Crunch poster
8.0

Detective goes after drug-dealers in Manhattan.

Crunch

1976

Malibu poster
3.8

A young couple from Milwaukee moves into the fabled, high-society Malibu beach community and becomes involved with the lives of the various people living in the community.

Malibu

1983

Longshot poster
5.2

When one of the foosball team members is injured, a 14-year-old girl takes the champion's place.

Longshot

1981