Bob Swaim

The American-born Bob Swaim first established himself in France with several short films in the early 1970s, including the award-winning "Le Journal de M. Bonnafous" (1970) and "L'Autoportrait d'un pornographe/Self-Portrait of a Pornographer" (1971). Abandoning his graduate studies in anthropology, he turned to filmmaking and his most successful films have effectively been American-style crime movies shot in Parisian locales. Swaim made his feature directing debut with "La Nuit de Saint-Germain des Pres" (1977) and scored both critically and at the box-office with the terse, uncompromising crime thriller "La Balance" (1981). "Half-Moon Street" (1986) was a muddled effort that had Sigourney Weaver cast as call girl while "Masquerade" (1988) was an above average thriller marred somewhat by a miscast Rob Lowe in the lead. More recently, Swaim turned to family fare with the well-crafted "The Climb" (1997), about a young boy determined to reach the top of a radio tower, and the coming-of-age period piece "Through the Heart" (1998).