It Takes a Thief (TV Series) A Sour Note (1968) User Reviews

Suzanne Pleshette really shines

[bensonmum2 · 8/10 · 23 August 2019]

The Quick Pitch: Mundy's mission involves cracking a safe that is believed to contain information on a Nazi war criminal. The safe is a type Mundy has never worked with before. In fact, he's not even sure how it opens. His cover - act as the manager for an operatic diva, Angela Funello.

What fun! A Sour Note is an excellent episode from start to finish. While the plot is interesting enough, it's the characters that make this one so special. Co-stars Harvey Lembeck, Gino Conforti, and especially Suzanne Pleshette bring their considerable talents and make for a light-hearted and, at times, quite funny episode. A special mention to costuming with Pleshette looking fabulous. As usual, Robert Wagner is in fine form and director Don Weis does his usual excellent job in the director's chair. The final solution to opening the safe is quite clever in that if you're paying attention, you might figure it out. The safe opening also accomplishes two other things: Mundy gets his evidence and Ms Funello is hilariously interrupted during her performance. My only complaint with A Sour Note is that this is Pleshette's only appearance on the show.

8/10

Suzanne hits a high note

[jjnxn-1 · 10/10 · 9 November 2013]

One of the better entries in the series thanks to the participation of Suzanne Pleshette as a temperamental opera diva.

Now into the second season Wagner has the part of Alexander Mundy down to a science. His facile charm and cool demeanor in any situation drives the show and helps keep the formulaic plot moving forward. He and Malachi Thorne made an excellent team, Thorne's slow burn and bluster playing well off Wagner's imperturbable cool.

Suzie rolls into this one and bites into her role of the mercurial singer and plays her with relish. Even dressed as she is in one scene as a sort of walking do-do bird she looks beautiful and her skillful interplay with Wagner makes the episode, which without her would be standard fare, a breezy delight.

The series had a few recurring characters that showed up from time to time, Susan St. James as Chuck a fellow thief and Fred Astaire as Mundy's father and those episodes are among the best but of course they were not in every episode. Another highlight of the show was their tendency of taking advantage of the jet setting motif of the show to frequently display high fashion for both sexes providing a great time capsule of 60's fashion. With all those components in place it fell to the writing and most especially the guest stars to distinguish the episodes from each other. Thanks to Suzanne's presence this is one of the very best.