.....and why not? In the war years juvenile delinquency was being explored and explained in films like Val Lewton's "Youth Runs Wild" which drew attention to the steep rise in employment among parents in munition factories and the fact that kids and teens were being allowed to roam the streets at all hours unsupervised. Even in as late and hilarious a film as Ed Wood's "The Violent Years" (1956) parents were still held up to blame for everything that was wrong with the youth of the day.
Alright, it's a PRC production so you know it's not going to be exactly high class but the cast has several good veteran actors - John Miljan, Vivienne Osborne and George Meeker, as well as Mary Beth Hughes who was building up a cult following.
Young Jimmy Wilson is on trial for manslaughter but when he finally breaks his silence it is to accuse his parents (John Miljan, looking pretty elderly and definitely not like the actor who specialized in oily villains and lawyers, and Vivienne Osborne) of never really wanting kids, of neglect and pursuing their own lives and leaving 5 year old Jimmy to get himself up in the morning and fix his own breakfast!! Boo Hoo!!!
After writing a prize essay on what his family means to him the school principal is eager to have his mother serve on the graduation committee but mom is off on a bender and doesn't say when she'll be back!! In the meantime "family friend" Vera is making a play for his harassed father who in turn takes every opportunity to belittle his mother. After a particularly vicious argument she gets drunk and makes a spectacle of herself at the graduation committee so Jimmy feels he can't return to school. You see Jimmy has been lying about his home life, praising his mother's care and compassion and his father's pride in him, so when he meets Kitty Reed (Hughes) he talks his home life up for hours, finishing with the preposterous statement that his father is thinking of setting him up in his own shoe store!! Kitty comes from the same neglected background but she has another ardent admirer in Blake (Meeker), owner of the nightclub and also determined to put Jimmy on the path to ruin. After putting him in his debt after an expensive meal that Jimmy can't pay for, he sets about using him for "deliveries" around town. Jimmy thinks it's all on the level but during one job a night watchman is killed and Jimmy realises he is in it up to his neck!!
After making a fresh start as a counter boy in a road side diner the understanding and belief of his boss (plus visiting church on Sundays) has Jimmy returning to his home town to put things straight. Robert Lowell as Jimmy didn't make much of an impression, in fact this movie seems to be his only credited part. The most prestigious thing about this movie is the fact that Ray Evans and Jay Livingston composed the forgettable songs. In just a few years they would win Academy Awards for song compositions "Buttons and Bows" (from "The Paleface") and "Mona Lisa" (from "Captain Carey, U.S.A."). Definitely not as bad as people have commented and deserves more that the average of 2.
Alright, it's a PRC production so you know it's not going to be exactly high class but the cast has several good veteran actors - John Miljan, Vivienne Osborne and George Meeker, as well as Mary Beth Hughes who was building up a cult following.
Young Jimmy Wilson is on trial for manslaughter but when he finally breaks his silence it is to accuse his parents (John Miljan, looking pretty elderly and definitely not like the actor who specialized in oily villains and lawyers, and Vivienne Osborne) of never really wanting kids, of neglect and pursuing their own lives and leaving 5 year old Jimmy to get himself up in the morning and fix his own breakfast!! Boo Hoo!!!
After writing a prize essay on what his family means to him the school principal is eager to have his mother serve on the graduation committee but mom is off on a bender and doesn't say when she'll be back!! In the meantime "family friend" Vera is making a play for his harassed father who in turn takes every opportunity to belittle his mother. After a particularly vicious argument she gets drunk and makes a spectacle of herself at the graduation committee so Jimmy feels he can't return to school. You see Jimmy has been lying about his home life, praising his mother's care and compassion and his father's pride in him, so when he meets Kitty Reed (Hughes) he talks his home life up for hours, finishing with the preposterous statement that his father is thinking of setting him up in his own shoe store!! Kitty comes from the same neglected background but she has another ardent admirer in Blake (Meeker), owner of the nightclub and also determined to put Jimmy on the path to ruin. After putting him in his debt after an expensive meal that Jimmy can't pay for, he sets about using him for "deliveries" around town. Jimmy thinks it's all on the level but during one job a night watchman is killed and Jimmy realises he is in it up to his neck!!
After making a fresh start as a counter boy in a road side diner the understanding and belief of his boss (plus visiting church on Sundays) has Jimmy returning to his home town to put things straight. Robert Lowell as Jimmy didn't make much of an impression, in fact this movie seems to be his only credited part. The most prestigious thing about this movie is the fact that Ray Evans and Jay Livingston composed the forgettable songs. In just a few years they would win Academy Awards for song compositions "Buttons and Bows" (from "The Paleface") and "Mona Lisa" (from "Captain Carey, U.S.A."). Definitely not as bad as people have commented and deserves more that the average of 2.