I Accuse My Parents

At the Superior Court building, teenager James Wilson is on trial, charged with manslaughter. When the judge asks Jimmy for his defense, Jimmy utters the words "I accuse my parents," and then relates the following tale of parental neglect: As a high school senior, Jimmy wins acclaim for an essay he has written describing his happy life at home, and as an honor, Jimmy's mother is invited to serve on her son's graduation committee. When Jimmy rushes home to tell his mother the good news, however, it becomes apparent that Jimmy's essay was a product of his imagination, because his mother is absent, the house a mess. After Mrs. Wilson comes home late for dinner, Jimmy's parents argue and his father Dan storms out of the house, leaving his mother in tears. Trying to console his mother, Jimmy tells her about the invitation to join his graduation committee. Cheered, Mrs. Wilson eagerly dresses for the meeting the next morning, but when Mr. Wilson ridicules her appearance, she turns to alcohol for consolation and arrives at the meeting, drunk. After graduation, Jimmy secures a full-time job as a shoe salesman. When his first customer, Kitty Reed, a pretty nightclub singer, asks Jimmy to deliver her purchase, he eagerly complies. At Kitty's apartment that evening, Jimmy rhapsodizes about his happy home while Kitty tells him about her life as a singer at the Paradise Club. Upon returning home, Jimmy's parents announce that they are leaving for the weekend, even though it is Jimmy's birthday. Lonely, Jimmy goes to the Paradise Club and there meets Charles Blake, the owner of the club and Kitty's possessive suitor. When Blake offers Jimmy a part-time night job, Kitty cautions him not to accept but he ignores her warnings. After instructing Jimmy to rent a safe deposit box at the bank, Blake tells him to pick up a package later that night and deposit it in the box. One night, while picking up another package, Carlton, one of Jimmy's contacts, hands him a note for urgent delivery to Blake. When Blake reads Carlton's message, warning him that some stolen goods hidden in a warehouse are no longer secure, Blake tells Jimmy to rent a car and drive two of his men to the warehouse that evening. Before leaving, Jimmy phones Kitty, and when the jealous Blake overhears their conversation, he demands that Kitty stop dating Jimmy. Fearing for Jimmy's safety, Kitty insults him and tells him that she never wants to see him again. Later, as Jimmy waits in the car outside the warehouse, a shot rings out. When Jimmy later reads a newspaper account of the warehouse watchman's murder, he tries to sever his ties with Blake, who then threatens to turn him in as an accessory unless he delivers the contents of the safety deposit box that evening. Following Blake's orders, Jimmy empties the contents of the box, then is assaulted by two of Blake's thugs. The beaten Jimmy returns home to an empty house, packs his bags, pockets a gun and flees. Needing cash, Jimmy stops at a café and is about to rob the place when the sympathetic owner, Al Frazier, offers Jimmy a free hamburger, a place to stay and a job. Overwhelmed by Al's generosity, Jimmy accepts. Two months later, a remorseful Jimmy confides his sordid past to Al and asks him to accompany him home so that he can rectify his mistakes. After Al agrees, Jimmy takes him to meet Kitty. When Kitty tells Jimmy that Blake forced her to stop seeing him, Jimmy instructs her to call the police while he goes to confront Blake. At Blake's office, Jimmy announces that he is going to give himself up. When Blake pulls out a gun, the two men begin to struggle. Just as the police arrive, the gun fires, killing Blake, and Jimmy is arrested for manslaughter. At his trial, Jimmy asserts that all his problems were caused by his parents' lack of guidance. Accepting his plea, the judge dismisses the charge of manslaughter, but sentences Jimmy to a five-year suspended sentence for the concealment of stolen property. After placing Jimmy in the custody of his parents until he turns twenty-one, the judge then scolds the Wilsons for their neglect and admonishes them to become worthy parents.