Man Hunt

Because of his obsession with amateur detective work, seventeen-year-old William "Junior" Scott, Jr. is soon fired from his job, but is unable to break the bad news to his hard-working mother. Determined to prove himself, Junior takes his youthful assistant, Abraham, and sets out to find another job and a "case" that they can solve. After a frustrating day of searching, Junior meets Josie Barrows, a teenager who has recently moved to Junior's small town with her father, and impresses her with his "detective" skills by revealing details about her habits that he has deduced through simple observation. That night Josie informs her father, a jewelry salesman named Henry Woodward who has stolen a half million dollars worth of diamonds from his employer, about Junior. Although Josie wants her repentant father to turn himself over to the police, he insists on hiding and asks Josie to find out how much Junior really knows about them. While at Josie's home, Junior shows Woodward his newspaper clippings file of unsolved mysteries, which includes a story about the diamond robbery and Woodward's apparent demise. Disturbed by the article, Woodward excuses himself and starts to write a confession of guilt, but tears it up before finishing. Woodward is then surprised by James J. Wilkie, his co-conspirator, who has come to claim his share of the diamonds. When Woodward tells Wilkie, who had disguised a tramp's corpse to resemble Woodward, that he is going to the police, Wilkie kills him and flees. The next day Wilkie represents himself to the police as a Jewelers' Association detective, and Junior unwittingly shows him a toupee that he found in Woodward's hand. Although Wilkie interrogates Josie harshly, she maintains her ignorance of the diamonds' whereabouts and turns to Junior for support. Junior, however, is berated by his mother, who has found out about his firing, and loses his self-confidence. After Josie gives him a pep talk and reveals her belief that the jewels are hidden outside her house, Junior tells Wilkie that he knows the diamonds' location. Frustrated by Junior's fumbling attempts to find the jewels, Wilkie shoves him and his dog down a shallow well. There Junior finds the diamonds but, as he is handing them to Wilkie, discovers that the detective is bald and deduces his guilt. Eventually, Wilkie is arrested by the police, and Junior, who has earned a $10,000 reward, is embraced by Josie and forgiven by his mother.