Moonrise

Sinopse

In a small southern town, Danny Hawkins (Dane Clark) is the son of a murderer who was hanged for his crimes. Throughout his childhood, he is haunted by his father's past and cruelly harassed by other children, including the bully Jerry Sykes (Lloyd Bridges). As a young man, Danny's only friend is Gilly Johnson (Gail Russell), who is falling in love with him, despite the fact that her boyfriend is Danny's chief tormentor, Jerry Sykes. After a particularly intense confrontation in the woods, during a dance, Danny and Sykes fight and, in self-defense, Danny kills him. He fears the same fate as his father and his behavior grows erratic and temperamental, puzzling Gilly. When Jerry's body is found and Sheriff Clem Otis (Allyn Joslyn), who suspects Danny acted in self-defense and is sympathetic, starts closing in, Danny becomes crazed. He nearly strangles the harmless mute Billy Scripture (Harry Morgan), who found Danny's pocket knife near the murder scene, and he jumps from a Ferris Wheel when he notices Otis following Gilly and him as they try to enjoy a date at the fair. While hiding out in the swamps, Hawkins visits his grandma (Ethel Barrymore), who tells him the truth about his father's crime. Hawkins realizes he is not tainted by "bad blood" and turns himself in to the police.