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It Takes a Thief
RELEASED·SERIES·EN

It Takes a Thief

Tue, Jan 9, 1968
  • Action & Adventure
  • Drama
Series · Synopsis

Synopsis

Convicted cat burglar Alexander Mundy gets an offer he can't refuse from the United States government: If he puts his formidable thieving skills to work for them, he'll be released from prison. Alexander's dad, Alister, sometimes comes out of retirement as a thief to help his son on special jobs.

Where to watch

Streaming on

  • ABC↗
Cast

Top of the call sheet

  • Robert Wagner
    Robert Wagner
    as Alexander Mundy
  • Malachi Throne
    Malachi Throne
    as Noah Bain
  • Edward Binns
    Edward Binns
    as Wallie Powers
  • Fred Astaire
    Fred Astaire
    as Alister Mundy
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Episodes

3 seasons · 66 episodes

Ended · 66 aired
Season 1
16 episodes · 16 aired
▾
  • E1
    A Thief is a Thief (a.k.a. Magnificent Thief)
    Aired · Wed, Jan 10, 1968 · 90m

    The newest recruit, a paroled master thief, is sent by the S.I.A. to steal a briefcase with unknown documents from a Middle Eastern courier. The contents may help to stop an information leak that is causing their top agents to be killed.

  • E2
    It Takes One to Know One
    Aired · Wed, Jan 17, 1968 · 60m

    The SIA orders Mundy to infiltrate a gang planning to steal a small, vulnerable nation's crown jewels.

  • E3
    When Boy Meets Girl
    Aired · Wed, Jan 31, 1968 · 60m

    Unexpected problems plague Mundy's mission to smuggle a defecting British scientist out of an Iron Curtain nation.

  • E4
    A Very Warm Reception
    Aired · Wed, Feb 7, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy uses various disguises to enter a foreign embassy and assess obstacles to stealing a list of agents.

  • E5
    One Illegal Angel
    Aired · Wed, Feb 14, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy places a bugged Da Vinci forgery in a dictator's palace.

  • E6
    Totally By Design
    Aired · Wed, Feb 21, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy must steal a Swiss bank-account passbook to prevent a Middle East tyrant from financing a takeover of a neighboring state.

  • E7
    When Thieves Fall In
    Aired · Wed, Feb 28, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy has a thief friend paroled so she can help him steal a sable coat that could destroy a trade treaty.

  • E8
    A Spot of Trouble
    Aired · Wed, Mar 6, 1968 · 60m

    An island abounding with girls and champagne is Mundy's hunting ground for a microdot.

  • E9
    When Good Friends Get Together
    Aired · Wed, Mar 13, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy poses as a government official to foil a prince's plan to turn his royal nephew against the United States.

  • E10
    Birds of a Feather
    Aired · Wed, Mar 20, 1968 · 60m

    Al Mundy is assigned to obtain top-secret microfilm which may be in the gold tooth of an imprisoned SIA agent.

  • E11
    To Steal a Battleship
    Aired · Wed, Mar 27, 1968 · 60m

    Al Mundy is assigned to recover NATO defense plans from a woman who is offering them for sale to the wrong people.

  • E12
    Turnabout
    Aired · Wed, Apr 3, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy is briefed to attempt to steal a new generation of optical lens from a Soviet science institute. At the last moment he is injured and Noah has to step into his shoes, with Mundys coaching.

  • E13
    The Radomir Miniature
    Aired · Wed, Apr 10, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy travels to Bulgaria to rescue the child of a scientist who defected.

  • E14
    Locked in the Cradle of the Keep
    Aired · Wed, Apr 17, 1968 · 60m

    After an agent is killed during a theft attempt, Mundy must finish the man's mission -- as soon as he knows what to steal.

  • E15
    A Matter of Royal Larceny
    Aired · Wed, Apr 24, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy returns a stolen jeweled globe in time for a coronation but learns his act could result in murder.

  • E16
    The Lay of the Land
    Aired · Wed, May 1, 1968 · 60m

    Noah sends Al to break into a duchess's villa, not to steal her jewels, but the manuscript of her memoirs.

Season 2
26 episodes · 26 aired
▾
  • E1
    One Night on Soledade
    Aired · Wed, Sep 25, 1968 · 60m

    Al Mundy is assigned to steal the dead body of the son of a Caribbean dictator and return it after an autopsy has been performed.

  • E2
    A Sour Note
    Aired · Wed, Oct 2, 1968 · 60m

    A temperamental opera singer helps Mundy steal a blackmailer's documents which could expose a fugitive Nazi.

  • E3
    The Bill is in Committee
    Aired · Wed, Oct 9, 1968 · 60m

    As a magician, Mundy enters a Latin American dictator's palace for negatives used in a blackmail plot.

  • E4
    The Thingamabob Heist
    Aired · Wed, Oct 16, 1968 · 60m

    Al Mundy is assigned to steal a stolen sample of a revolutionary jet fuel from an international fence.

  • E5
    Get Me to the Revolution on Time
    Aired · Wed, Oct 23, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy poses as a hotel bartender in a plan to carry out his next theft, a contract between a major cartel and a revolutionary.

  • E6
    The Packager
    Aired · Wed, Oct 30, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy has evidence on a wealthy traitor, but the culprit threatens to expose Mundy's SIA connection.

  • E7
    Hans Across the Border (1)
    Aired · Wed, Nov 13, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy gets himself arrested in East Germany as a spy so he can be traded for a double agent.

  • E8
    Hans Across the Border (2)
    Aired · Wed, Nov 20, 1968 · 60m

    Papers planted by Mundy lead Heinrich to accuse a Soviet general of spying for the United States.

  • E9
    A Case of Red Turnips
    Aired · Wed, Nov 27, 1968 · 60m

    To protect identities of SIA agents, Mundy must steal the only print of an avant-garde film.

  • E10
    The Galloping Skin Game
    Aired · Wed, Dec 4, 1968 · 60m

    A successful mission to get a stolen treaty may cost the life of Mundy's friend.

  • E11
    Glass Riddle
    Aired · Wed, Dec 18, 1968 · 60m

    Mundy is assigned to rob a bank safe enclosed in glass in full view of a busy city street.

  • E12
    To Catch a Roaring Lion
    Aired · Wed, Jan 1, 1969 · 60m

    An African government may collapse if Mundy cannot recover stolen relics.

  • E13
    Guess Who's Coming to Rio
    Aired · Fri, Jan 10, 1969 · 60m

    In Rio de Janeiro, Mundy is nearly bombed, threatened, kidnapped and finally arrested for murder.

  • E14
    The Artist is for Framing
    Aired · Wed, Jan 22, 1969 · 60m

    Fingerprints and other evidence leading to Al's arrest for jewel thefts convince even Noah.

  • E15
    The Naked Billionaire
    Aired · Wed, Jan 29, 1969 · 60m

    The government wants a reclusive tycoon to build an anti-missile complex -- as soon as Mundy discovers whether the man is alive.

  • E16
    A Matter of Grey Matter (1)
    Aired · Wed, Feb 5, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy must steal a missile-fuel formula from a recluse before it falls into enemy hands.

  • E17
    A Matter of Grey Matter (2)
    Aired · Wed, Feb 12, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy begins to think Dodie's precocious young brother invented the stolen formula.

  • E18
    Catspaw
    Aired · Wed, Feb 19, 1969 · 60m

    Injured Mundy enlists a former protege to recover crown jewels from a castle.

  • E19
    Boom at the Top
    Aired · Wed, Feb 26, 1969 · 60m

    The SIA orders Mundy to give a Washington, D.C., party in hopes he can nab the pickpocket who recently invaded a similar event.

  • E20
    The Funeral is on Mundy
    Aired · Wed, Mar 12, 1969 · 60m

    Learning he is the target of a professional assassin, Mundy hides in Noah's apartment.

  • E21
    The Baranoff Timetable
    Aired · Wed, Mar 19, 1969 · 60m

    A jet-setter helps Mundy obtain a document detailing a Communist takeover of South America.

  • E22
    Rock-Bye, Bye, Baby
    Aired · Wed, Mar 26, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy hires a hard-drinking safecracker to help steal information from a nightclub belonging to a crime boss.

  • E23
    The Family
    Aired · Wed, Apr 2, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy arranges to be quarantined with a wealthy clan to learn why its patriarch sells oil behind the Iron Curtain.

  • E24
    38-23-36
    Aired · Wed, Apr 9, 1969 · 60m

    Al Mundy tries to find a vital microdot supposedly in the possession of one of a group of international beauty contest winners.

  • E25
    The Great Chess Gambit
    Aired · Wed, Apr 16, 1969 · 60m

    The crash of a SAC bomber in Spain sends Mundy on a mission to retrieve a top-secret device that disappeared from the wreckage.

  • E26
    Mad In Japan
    Aired · Wed, Apr 23, 1969 · 60m

    A traitorous SIA agent obstructs Al Mundy's attempts to track down a laser gun being developed by the Chinese.

Season 3
24 episodes · 24 aired
▾
  • E1
    Saturday Night in Venice
    Aired · Fri, Sep 26, 1969 · 60m

    Al Mundy is poisoned by a Red agent and has little time to trade a decoding device he has stolen for the antidote.

  • E2
    Who'll Bid Two Million Dollars?
    Aired · Fri, Oct 3, 1969 · 60m

    Three foreign agents trying to buy a legendary spy's plutonium confuse Mundy with their quarry.

  • E3
    The Beautiful People
    Aired · Fri, Oct 10, 1969 · 60m

    An enemy agent impersonates the captured SIA chief to trick Mundy into locating a defecting Soviet.

  • E4
    The Great Casino Caper
    Aired · Fri, Oct 17, 1969 · 60m

    Al Mundy and his father set out to loot the vault of a casino in Venice and sell the lira to a counterfeiter.

  • E5
    Flowers From Alexander
    Aired · Fri, Oct 24, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy's seaside vacation in Italy is rudely interrupted when enemy agents following an SIA courier assume Al is her accomplice.

  • E6
    The Blue, Blue Danube
    Aired · Fri, Oct 31, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy poses as a reporter to rescue an SIA chief kidnapped by a Hungarian agent.

  • E7
    The Three Virgins of Rome
    Aired · Fri, Nov 7, 1969 · 60m

    When Al Mundy is assigned to protect three priceless paintings, he finds that his father wants to steal them.

  • E8
    Payoff in the Piazza
    Aired · Fri, Nov 14, 1969 · 60m

    The larcenous plans of Mundy's pal Charlie Brown hamper his efforts to find a widowed queen.

  • E9
    The King of Thieves
    Aired · Fri, Nov 21, 1969 · 60m

    An embarrassing kidnap case -- the victim is the daughter of a U.S. senatorial candidate whose press secretary is smearing the S.I.A.

  • E10
    A Friend in Deed
    Aired · Fri, Nov 28, 1969 · 60m

    A good friend of Al Mundy names him as the thief who stole a file containing the names of the dreaded Italian Brotherhood.

  • E11
    The Second Time Around
    Aired · Fri, Dec 5, 1969 · 60m

    Al Mundy and his father thwart communist execution attempts and set out to prevent a financial disaster.

  • E12
    The Old Who Came in From the Spy
    Aired · Fri, Dec 12, 1969 · 60m

    A rusty British operative helps Mundy steal a microdot from an East Berlin museum.

  • E13
    To Lure a Man
    Aired · Fri, Dec 19, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy struggles to outwit an enemy intelligence chief who is forcing him to lead the S.I.A.'s top man into a trap.

  • E14
    The Scorpio Drop
    Aired · Fri, Dec 26, 1969 · 60m

    Mundy poses as an astrologer to infiltrate an occult society; his assumed name makes him an assassination target.

  • E15
    Nice Girls Marry Stockbrokers
    Aired · Fri, Jan 16, 1970 · 60m

    A fashion photographer insists on taking the place of her deceased roommate to retrieve an S.I.A. code book in Paris.

  • E16
    The Steal-Driving Man
    Aired · Tue, Jan 20, 1970 · 60m

    Wally Powers induces Al Mundy to drive in a Formula I car race in Cordona where the SIA suspects the Russians are building Cuba-type missile bases and where vice-president Paulo Monteggo plans to topple the government. Al, using the cover name of Paul Stratford, is confronted by Corie Laughton of the credentials committee, but convinces her to go along with his fanciful excuse for anonymity.

  • E17
    Touch of Magic
    Aired · Tue, Jan 27, 1970 · 60m

    Mundy helps an arthritic ex-thief by inventing a caper, but the escapade interferes with the S.I.A.

  • E18
    Fortune City
    Aired · Tue, Feb 3, 1970 · 60m

    A dazed Mundy awakens after a car accident in a ghost town, minus his beautiful companion.

  • E19
    Situation Red
    Aired · Tue, Feb 10, 1970 · 60m

    An Air Force Major has a paranoid reaction to a prescription drug and takes over the Command Center during a bomber drill. Al is called in to extract him from the locked President's bunker before he starts World War III.

  • E20
    To Sing a Song of Murder
    Aired · Tue, Feb 24, 1970 · 60m

    Musicians become involved in a political plot.

  • E21
    The Suzie Simone Caper
    Aired · Tue, Mar 3, 1970 · 60m

    A Nazi diary reveals that a painting by Matisse has a hidden list of Nazi war criminals. Wally calls Al to steal the painting, which is protected by a sophisticated security system.

  • E22
    An Evening With Alister Mundy
    Aired · Tue, Mar 10, 1970 · 60m

    Alister and Al pose as clowns to get close to a king threatened by a scheming General.

  • E23
    Beyond a Treasonable Doubt
    Aired · Tue, Mar 17, 1970 · 60m

    Accusations of treason plunge Mundy into a nightmarish ordeal where friends and enemies become indistinguishable.

  • E24
    Project "X"
    Aired · Tue, Mar 24, 1970 · 60m

    Mundy and a stewardess seek a device killing scientists aboard a plane headed for Melbourne.