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Jeff Chandler plays big-city lawyer James Gordon Blane, who heads to a small Nevada town to defend a playboy (Phillip Reed) accused of murder. Blane wins the case, but is then himself charged with accepting bribes. The man behind this accusation is vindictive town sheriff Nick Hoak (Jack Carson), who controls all illegal activities in the area. When Blane's legman Billy Giles ends up dead, the lawyer deduces that Hoak was also behind the killing for which the playboy was blamed. Blane struggles to defend his reputation in court while his wife (Jeanne Crain) attempts to mount evidence against Sheriff Hoak. Despite its stellar cast and slick direction (by Jack Arnold), The Tattered Dress comes across as cheap and tawdry -- befitting its seedy subject matter.