To Catch a Thief was "strong on sight and performance values" though it had "some plot weaknesses and is not as smooth in the unfolding as one might expect from an upper 'A' presentation." "Harrison's Reports" wrote, "Alfred Hitchcock has not endowed the action with as much suspense as one might expect in a picture produced and directed by him; nevertheless, its story of a one-time jewel robber who sets out to establish his innocence by catching a thief who was using his technique is tight and swiftly-paced, and constantly offers dramatic and comical developments." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" called it
To Catch a Killer 2010, eighteen years after the film's first broadcast in the US, a profile of Dennehey in the "Times of North West Indiana" noted, "whenever Dennehy comes back to Chicago, which is often... he's inevitably asked about his made-for-television 1992 movie role in "To Catch a Killer."" Dennehey received a letter from Gacy following the film's US broadcast, in which Gacy admonished him for taking part in a "fraud" film and maintaining his claim that "lots of people had access to that crawl space." To Catch a Killer To Catch a Killer is a two-part television film from 1992, directed by