Skip Torgerson

Troubled teenagers, ineffectual parents, and a climactic tragedy.

Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.

A town despot makes a guileless patsy the sheriff, lives to regret it.

After staging a mutiny and commandeering his own ship, famed pirate Barbarossa takes hostage a spirited Spanish noblewoman named Alida, intending to trade her to her fiancé, Capt. Jose Salcedo, for a handsome ransom. But Barbarossa falls in love with Alida, who meanwhile discovers that the roguish swashbuckler is more honorable than her erstwhile betrothed.

Snobby TV star, Robert Jordan, worries that he is out of touch with the younger generation and that's why his TV show is failing. He becomes a Boy Scout leader in an effort to "get in touch." Overnight hikes and other adventures follow, all centered around one small boy who takes a liking to the old curmudgeon.