Public Pigeon No. 1

Public Pigeon No. One is a 1957 comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It stars Red Skelton and Vivian Blaine.

Rusty Morgan is irresponsible, but girlfriend Edith Enders trusts him. They put their money in a joint bank account.

A con man, Harvey Baker, is able to persuade Rusty to buy his worthless uranium certificates, claiming they are worth $10,000. His cronies Rita and Frankie take the swindle further, resulting in Rusty losing his job at a cafe and Lt. Qualen of the bunco squad letting him know that these are wanted crooks with a $10,000 reward on their heads.

Rusty accidentally finds out where Rita is and follows her. He is so gullible, he believes it when told they are agents working secretly for the FBI. He ends up a pigeon for their scheme, arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.

No one could be this stupid, the crooks conclude, and mistakenly believe Rusty has their stolen money in a safety deposit box. Edith concocts a scheme with Qualen to break Rusty out of jail so the crooks will follow him. Qualen ends up arresting the lot, and Rusty and Edith get to share the $10,000 reward.