PERFECT casting with Maurice Evans as Admiral Nathanial "Nat" Johnson, self described king of con men. Evans is a class act, best known for playing Elizabeth Montgomery's Shakespearian buff father on BEWITCHED. What a trip with this guy.
This was the only episode written by Marvin Wald, who wrote for DAKTARI, and he rolls with it, adding some dark comedy into the mix. Nat's game is to never give a sucker an even break (from the famous WC Fields movie), hence the title, "never give the fuzz an even break." His targets are some wealthy old ladies, best played by Harriett MacGibbon (Mrs. Drysdale from the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES) and popular character actress Amzie Strickland. It's way cool to also see Mrs. Drysdale in this one.
Pete, Linc and Julie have to go undercover to catch Nat, who has some extra charm to go with his offbeat character and is kind of hard to resist at times. Don't miss the dialogue between Nat and the guys, lecturing them like he's their father?
Exceptionally directed by Earl Bellamy, who headed over 1600 classic tv shows in his long career, such as MY THREE SONS and STARSKY AND HUTCH. He was the right director for this episode.
SEASON 2 EPISODE 13 Christmas 1969 episode. Remastered Paramount dvd box set. Vol 1 and 2. 4 dvds. Released 2012.