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Once a decorated war hero, Danny Haley (played by Heston) now leads a group of small-time card sharks who know a sucker when they see one. They cheat their latest mark, Arthur (Don DeFore, Ramrod) out of $5000 at the poker table; but when Arthur hangs himself in despair, his unstable, hulking older brother (Mike Mazurki, Night and the City) seeks violent revenge on the grifters responsible. As the bodies pile up, Danny and his lover, nightclub singer Fran (Lizabeth Scott, Too Late For Tears), flee to Las Vegas... but Danny is about to learn he can t hide from the consequences of his actions.
After loosing his company`s $5,000 cashier`s check in a crooked card game, a stranger in Chicago commits suicide. The group of gamblers, with Danny Haley (Charlton Heston) as a member, worries about the dangers of cashing the check, but this becomes the least of their worries when the head of the group is found hanged. Police Captain Garvey (Dean Jagger) concludes the hanging to be a case of homicide and discovers that the stranger had a mentally deranged brother who is out to avenge his brother`s death. Fran (Lizabeth Scott), a torch singer desperately in love with Danny, begs him to runaway with her. This classic film noir also features the stars of Dragnet, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, as Danny`s gambling partners. Directed by William Dieterie (Rope Of Sand).