aimless-46 "It Takes A Thief" is a bit dated and probably only of interest to those who recall watching it years ago. The 1968-1970 ABC show was inspired by Cary Grant's debonair jewel thief in the film "To Catch A Thief". Professional thief Alexander Mundy (Robert Wagner) gets an offer to work for the SIA (a covert U.S. government spy agency). Mundy does not simply dismiss the offer out of hand as he is doing time and the government is offering him limited freedom (house arrest confinement in a Washington mansion between missions) in exchange for allowing them to utilize his considerable skills as a thief.While not on the level of classics like "77 Sunset Strip", the show's first two seasons followed the wonderful tradition of 1960's action/adventure/spy shows by casting a different hot "young" starlet in each episode (except episodes 1.12, 2.11, 2.12, 2.14 & 2.15). The show went strangely gay for its third and "final season", replacing this practice with evocative shots of Robert Wagner and in the process losing its original audience.The set includes all 65 regular episodes and two versions of the pilot episode. Despite the complaints the packaging I received was not bad, much better the standard Mill Creek release. Each season has its own folder with individual pockets for each disc. Resolution is decent for the first two seasons, but since most older viewers first saw this as a grainy ABC broadcast, the resolution might cause an even more nostalgic reaction.The resolution is much worse on the Season Three episodes but those episodes were staggeringly moronic and completely lacking in eye candy, so the poor film stock or whatever washed out the print did not ruin anything of any quality. The third season episodes are bad but not bad enough to work as mockfest material. Watch for the steady parade of ancient actresses with mega makeup, perhaps they provided the financing to keep things going for another week in exchange for the opportunity to take a working vacation at some exotic foreign location and a chance to encourage Wagner to unbutton his shirt a bit more. Fortunately the first two seasons provide enough entertainment to justify the price, even if you simply trash the third season.DVD set extras are a booklet, a 4-piece coaster set (why?) and interviews with Robert Wagner (he is not asked if he killed Natalie) and with Glen Larson. Larson was associated with the series for its entire run, mostly as an associate producer but occasionally as a writer, particularly during season three. In fact, when you find a particular episode especially boring it is a fair bet that it is one that Larson wrote. It is believed that he was the Coen Brothers' model for the Digby Sellers character in "The Big Lebowski".Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

sebek-2 Back in the day there were three shows that I had to see every week , or , the world might stop spinning or some strange like that would happen.They were "It takes a thief " , " Mission Impossible " , and, " Star Trek",In that order, and in case you didn't know Al Munday was the coolest guy on TV. And then make Fred Astaire his dad was just to much, they were the perfect match. The chemistry between characters, the writing,the locations. This I think was one of the perfect shows far ahead of it's time, I wouldn't be surprised if it ran today that it would get better ratings then some of stuff on the major networks.I was so overjoyed to see the entire saris, and look forward to sharing it with everyone.

raysond "Let me get this straight,........you want me to steal?"That line was from one of the coolest espionage shows to ever come out of the 1960's. The series "It Takes A Thief" premiered in a era that was lined with espionage shows that included "The Man From U.N.C.L.E", "The Avengers","The Saint","Secret Agent Man","The Wild,Wild West","I Spy","Mission:Impossible","Man With A Suitcase",and "Get Smart" to name a few. "It Takes A Thief",which came in as a mid-season replacement for the 1967-1968 season,premiered on ABC-TV on January 9,1968 for the three seasons it was on the air until March 24,1970 producing 66 episodes all in color. It was among the last of the 1960's spy television genre,although it was be clipped by "Mission:Impossible" which continued onward into the early-1970's. "It Takes A Thief" which was created by television writer Roland Kibbee(who was the writer and producer for a lot of Universal produced TV-series including "Leave It To Beaver","The Munsters","McHale's Navy")who also served as executive producer of this series along with Frank Price,Glen A. Larson,and Jack Arnold. The first two seasons of the show were filmed on the lot at Hollywood's Universal Studios,but the third and final season of the series were filmed on location in Europe within Greece and Italy and locations in France."It Takes A Thief" stars Robert Wagner(his first role in a television series) was the debonair jewel thief Alexander Mundy turned international man of espionage and mystery who was hired by the U.S. Government's S.I.A. agency(secret intelligence agency)(his boss was Malachi Throne who was in Seasons 1 and 2 of the series,and was replaced in the show's third and final season by Edward Binns) for a range of dangerous,yet sometimes various assignments,but in some of the episodes he did his job with such grace and style. The series also had Fred Astaire(who appeared in Season 3 of the series) as his dad who was also a jewel thief,but also worked for the government as well. There was one of the episodes where(and one of the oddest and weirdest episodes ever produced)he would be in a tight jam and somewhere would have to risk his neck to save the damsel in distress like The Fifth Dimension's Marilyn McCoo,or other broads like Petula Clark,Nancy Sinatra and so forth. Others included Susan Saint James, Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Fernando Lamas, Paul Heinreid, and Joesph Cotten made guest appearances. Susan Saint James appeared in five episodes of the series.One of the underrated and better episodes from Season 2 featured the one and only Peter Sellers in a dual role;in which he would played an informant in one,and a cold blooded killer out to get our hero in another! Great ending if you get the chance to see it. The series originally ran on ABC-TV from 1968-70,and when the show ended I thought why destroy a good thing that was very good since this show was a spy show,and a good hearted well-produced crime drama/action-adventure spectacle which after this show ended Robert Wagner went on to star in other crime/action shows like "Switch" with Eddie Albert(aka from Green Acres),and Sharon Gless(from Cagney & Lacey) ,and "Hart to Hart"(with Stephanie Powers),and to the LOST Wagner series from the early 1980's(I forgot the title of it,but it ran on NBC)"It Takes A Thief" did very well in the ratings since ABC moved the series to different nights during its run. Season 1 was on Tuesday nights at 8:30e/7:30c opposite Diahann Carroll's "Julia",and the long-running "The Red Skelton Show". For Seasons 2 and 3,the show moved from Tuesday nights to Thursday nights at the 10:00e/9:00c time slot opposite "The CBS Thursday Night Movie",and "The Dean Martin Show" which got it canceled on March 14,1970 to bad ratings. On September 14,1970,the show that ABC replaced "It Takes A Thief" was the short-lived science-fiction thriller "The Immortal".

hillari Alexander Mundy was the coolest of the cool, a career thief who had been given a get out of jail free card. Even though he had choosen to do burglaries for the government, there was still a hint that Mundy might go back to his old ways if he could figure out how to get away with it. The show even became more cool when they added the character of Mundy's father (Fred Astaire) who was also a career criminal. One of the oddest episodes I remember was one that featured singing group, The Fifth Dimension. Marilyn McCoo's (lead singer) character had died in the first few minutes, but then she returned, stating, "I died, but now I'm back". They did a great acoustic version of "One Less Bell To Answer" in that episode.