Dave Grusin Kicks Ass

Here's Grusin's kickass jazz theme to the Robert Wagner TV series IT TAKES A THIEF:



One of Wagner's many hit TV series, IT TAKES A THIEF was an amusing riff off the Hitchcock film TO CATCH A THIEF. Debuting on ABC in January 1968, the hour series starred "R.J." as Alexander Mundy, a super-suave cat burglar who is captured and sentenced to prison. A top-secret U.S. government agency, led by Malachi Throne, recruits Mundy to use his skills to aid him in participating in espionage missions overseas. The show was light fare that didn't take itself too seriously, just like its star. Wagner pretty much played "Robert Wagner," the same as he did later in SWITCH and HART TO HART, which is fine, since nobody is better at playing Robert Wagner than Robert Wagner was.

And few composers were better at concocting groovin' jazz for movies and television than Dave Grusin.