The 1936 film "The Petrified Forest" features Bette Davis handing drifter Leslie Howard a silver dollar. The film was based on a popular stage play which was set in the early 1930's, when groups of desperados, including John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, roamed the American Midwest committing robberies and murders. The film is about a group of residents and travelers of an Arizona desert restaurant being held hostage by one such group of desperados led by Humphrey Bogart and a romance that develops between drifter Leslie Howard and waitress Bette Davis.

The film opens with a scene of the Arizona desert.

Alan Squier is hitchhiking in the Arizona desert when he arrives at a small restaurant.

The building design is based on the Southwestern Pueblo designs. Alan has spent the past several years in Europe married to a wealthy woman. She has let him go, and he has returned to America, broke. Gabrielle Maple works at the restaurant which is owned by her father and grandfather.

Gabrielle's father was in the service during World War I and married a French woman who spent a short time in America and then went back to France, leaving Gabrielle, who wants more than anything to go to France and live there. She is reading a book of poetry by Medieval French poet François Villon.

Alan stops for a meal and meets Gabrielle. Gramp is Gabrielle's grandfather who has lived in the area since the 1880's.

The headline is about a gunfight between the police and a criminal gang led by Duke Mantee, who is based on John Dillinger. Gramp likes to tell stories of the "old west" and Billy the Kid. Gramp states that the desperados of the 1930's are the modern version of the old Western outlaws. He reads out loud that Duke and his gang are in the area and hopes to witness a real gunfight. Alan tells his life story to Gabrielle and his mention of living in France gets her attention and admiration. Alan is broke and Gabrielle hands him a silver dollar.

The coin is probably a dollar-sized prop coin.

Another view of the silver dollar.

Theee merged views of the silver dollar which appears to be some kind of token or prop coin with a man's face on it. Alan and Gabrielle fall in love but their relationship is interrupted by the arrival of Duke Mantee and his gang.

Duke's group are waiting for another car carrying other members of his gang.

The customer hostages include Alan, a wealthy couple, their uniformed chauffeur, and Gramp. Behind Gramp is Slim, a member of Duke's gang. Alan is carrying a $5000 life insurance policy, and while Gabrielle is out of the room, he signs the policy over to her and then asks Duke to do something for him.

Alan asks Duke to kill him when his group leaves. Deputies arrive and begin a gun battle with the gang.

Duke appears to be holding a Winchester rifle which is right out of the "old west."

The deputies are wearing cowboy hats and western outfits. The deputy on the left resembles Hopalong Cassidy, a popular Western film star.

Leslie Howard as Alan Squier
Bette Davis as Gabrielle Maple
Humphrey Bogart as Duke Mantee
Charley Grapewin as Gramp Maple
Director: Archie L. Mayo
Writers: Charles Kenyon, Delmer Daves, Robert E. Sherwood