It’s based on Terence Lore Smith’s 1971 thriller, with a script by Walter Hill, and set in Houston, Texas. Personally, Houston doesn’t strike me as the most glamorous of locations (Bring it on Miss Ellie!), especially when, say, compared to Manhattan, San Francisco or Los Angeles, altho’ Texan readers may want to correct my ignorance. Ryan O’ Neal stars as a Webster McGee, a dull computer programmer who ditches his career to join the criminal classes, albeit as a socially acceptable gentleman jewel thief. He does, at least, know what a Rodin is. Yorkin, I gather, wanted to make a tribute to the great era of Cary Grant, which means To Catch a Thief (1955) — and already we’re in trendy late 1960s heist territory: How to Steal a Million (1966), with Peter O’ Toole and Audrey Hepburn; Gambit (1966), with Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine; The Italian Job (1966) and, of course, quite probably the best of the lot: The Thomas Crown Affair (1969), starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, set in upmarket Boston.

But 1973 was a different place from 1969. It’s amazing how four years can make such a difference. 1973, at least in this case, means flares, muscle cars of Kermit Green, bomber jackets and Starsky and Hutch car chases: Columbo and Charley’s Angels vibes, plus a Texan ‘Space-themed’ square dance, with Jacqueline dressed as Wonder Woman (I think? Or Princess Aura in Flash Gordon?) and Ryan in NASA overalls. Studio 54 it ain’t.