BLACKBEARD'S GHOST (1968) *** Robert Stevenson dips into situational (pirate) ethics, and celebrates them as lustily as Johnny Thunders did "Pirate Love." This is the sort of film you want your kid to see, and discuss, and understand. Why it's good to cheat sometimes. But for the good of the little old ladies, right? Well, no, not only the little old ladies, but... Peter Ustinov is a truly bad dude as the head pirate. Some may argue that his accent is slightly upper-crust, but you have to remember that Blackbeard was pirate royalty. Every intonation is perfect, the throwaway looks say everything anyway. His drinking is first-rate, and like Thunders it's unlikely that he ever really ran aground. Dean Jones is always most effective as the straight man (no pun intended, but his character really could do with a beer), and his goofiness sets up Ustinov in precisely the way that Stevenson planned. But what good does redemption do the unimaginative and vulgar in the absence of an equitable love interest? Suzanne Pleshette puts overpaid to that with a spectacular imitation of Jackie Kennedy as a small university child psychology professor. So the good guys win again, and the bad good guy, but not the bad bad guys, or the guys who never really thought about it much; who stuck their nose to the wind at the expense of noticing the more powerful subterranean currents and romantic potentialities. The track meet hijinx was worked to even greater effect by Doctor Gazenga in The World's Greatest Athlete. But Blackbeard could have kicked his ass, believe me, he would have found a way.
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