It Takes a Thief

It Takes a Thief was an American television series from Universal Pictures that ran from 1968 to 1970. It starred Robert Wagner as Alexander Mundy, a suave career thief who is let out of prison by the fictitious Secret Intelligence Agency ("SIA") so he can steal things for them.

In the pilot episode A Thief is a Thief, Mundy must recover a set of pictures of SIA agents that is being sold to a foreign country so they can track down and kill the agents. The episode debuted on US television on January 9, 1968.

The series actually began as a film titled Magnificent Thief which was released overseas when Universal had been unable to sell the concept as a TV series. The success of the film led to an order for the series from the ABC network. The first episode aired had a number of cuts in the movie to fit the shorter TV slot.

Al Mundy discovers that the photos have been hidden inside a javelin that was sent to the fictitious Sports Expo '68 in Montreal.

The action then moves to Montreal, with many scenes of Expo 67 sprinkled throughout the antics of Al searching for the photos. If anyone knows the significance of "292731" on the signboard please let me know.

Al is accompanied by SIA agent Claire Vickers, played by Senta Berger. As they enter the site they try to figure out where the javelin might be found.

As Al and Vickie are walking through one of the theme buildings they spot some of the enemy agents, but the bad guys also see them. Getting the javelin just became much more dangerous.

The Expo 67 scenes were shot while the event was in full operation, and most of the people seen in the crowd shots probably never realized they were being filmed.

There are many shots of Expo throughout the sequence. This kinetic sculpture in the rear of the picture was also seen in a close-up shot of the discs spinning wildly in the breeze.

A number of scenes, such as this one where Al and Claire watch a track meet, were actually shot back at Universal Studios, but most of the Expo scenes were authentic.

Al and Claire decide to take a break inside the "Cinema Pavilion" where they plot out their next moves while watching an interactive film. Shades of Kinoautomat, anyone?

Al figures out where the javelin is, so Claire roams the grounds at night to distract the enemy while the theft of the photos takes place.

Al has to fight off several vicious killers but is able to get the photos and turn them over to the SIA. At the end, Al and Claire emerge out into the sunlight of a new day - and a budding romance. In typical TV fashion, though, Claire is never seen or mentioned again.

The first season of It Takes a Thief has been released on DVD and contains the Magnificent Thief version of the Expo 67 episode. The set is apparently quite rare now and commands quite a hefty price! You might want to check out YouTube.