Headscratchers / I Accuse My Parents

• Why does no one in the film care that Jimmy is a 16-year-old high school student who drinks, and even admits he's been "hitting the stuff kinda hard lately." (Some states did have a drinking age of 18 in the 1940s, but it's still odd that he has no problem ordering numerous cocktails at a nightclub.)
  • Thanks to the age of the actor they might have just all thought he was 30.
  • His comment about hitting the hard stuff might have been baloney, a way to turn down a drink he didn't want.
• After getting off of his crimes with only probation, why is Jimmy is remanded into the custody of his parents? Wasn't the whole point of the movie being the fact that his parents were too busy seeking their own pleasures or arguing with each other to raise him?
• If Jimmy's parent give him cash at the drop of a hat, why does he decide to get a job, and why doesn't he ask his parents for the money when he comes up short while courting Kitty?
• What possessed Jimmy to think that a mobster would willingly go with him to confess his crimes to the police? Was he going to shame a psychopath into jail time?
  • Keep in mind that Jimmy is both dumb and naive. He may very well have thought exactly that.
• Why would Blake hire someone so obviously naive to do illegal things for him? Doesn't he risk Jimmy doing exactly what he did — realize he's doing something wrong, have an attack of conscience, and rat out the whole operation?
  • Blake likely could see just how naive Jimmy was and came to one of two conclusions: 1) Jimmy would never get wise to the illegality of it all; or 2) even if he did get wise, Blake probably thinks "naive = pushover" and that if Jimmy were to balk at what he's being asked to do, he could be bullied back into compliance with little effort.