Hyams studied art and music at Hunter College and Syracuse University before working as a producer/anchorman for WHDH-TV.
During 1966 while working for a CBS owned station in New York, he served three months as a news correspondent in Vietnam.
He worked in Boston then in January 1968 he joined WBBM-TV in Chicago as an anchorman and reporter to replace Fahey Flynn.
[1][4][5] Hyams made his directorial debut with an ABC Movie of the Week for Aaron Spelling, Rolling Man (1972) starring Dennis Weaver.
[8] The praise for Goodnight My Love meant Hyams was able to get finance for his debut feature as writer-director, Busting (1974), a buddy cop movie starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake.
He wrote the screenplay for the Charles Bronson thriller Telefon (1977), doing a draft for Richard Lester (who ended up not directing the film).
Hyams did a rewrite of Ted Leighton's screenplay for the Steve McQueen film The Hunter (1980) which he was to direct.
[10] He wanted to do a Western but was unable to get financing so he then wrote and directed the science fiction cult classic Outland (1981), which starred Sean Connery in a 'High Noon' scenario set on Io, one of Jupiter's moons.
For MGM Hyams produced, directed, and wrote the screenplay for 2010 (1984), collaborating closely with author Arthur C. Clarke (2010).
Hyams also co-authored with Clarke The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, published 1985, a collection of their email correspondence which illustrates their fascination with the then pioneering medium, and its use for them to communicate on an almost daily basis while planning and producing the film.
Hyams had a hit with a buddy cop film, Running Scared (1986) at MGM with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal.
Hyams did a horror monster movie called The Relic (1997) which received mixed reviews and grossed $48 million at the box office.
The blockbuster End of Days (1999) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is the highest-grossing film in Hyams' career, grossing over $200 million at the worldwide box-office but was met with negative critical reception.