Watch It Takes a Thief Online

It Takes a Thief featured the adventures of cat burglar, pickpocket, and thief Alexander Mundy (Robert Wagner) who steals to finance his life as a polished playboy and sophisticate. He is in prison when the U.S. government's SIA (secret intelligence agency) proposes a deal to Mundy: steal for the government in exchange for his freedom. His new SIA boss, Noah Bain (Malachi Throne), uses the catch phrase, "Hey, look, Al, I'm not asking you to spy, I'm just asking you to steal." The pilot was a 1968 television film called A Thief is a Thief or The Magnificent Thief.

During the third season, Fred Astaire played Alistair Mundy, Alexander's father, also a master gentleman-thief who says at the start of each episode, "I've heard of stealing from the government, but not for the government." Later, in the series' third season, Throne was replaced by Edward Binns as Mundy's SIA chief.