10 Incredible Shots That Totally Defined Movies

Planet of the Apes is undeniably best remembered for its shocker of a twist ending, that the titular "alien" planet was actually a post-apocalyptic Earth all along.

As ingenious a rug-pull as it is, it only entered the pop-culture lexicon because of how brilliantly presented it was by director Franklin J. Schaffner in the film's closing shot.

Pulling back to reveal the remains of the Statue of Liberty - rendered with a gorgeously seamless matte composite, no less - as Taylor (Charlton Heston) looks in on despair makes for one of cinema's all-time greatest "holy s**t!" moments.

Though the sci-fi masterpiece is so much more than its shocker of an ending, the sight of Charlton Heston pounding the sand and screaming in exasperation at humanity's folly is the spirit and essence of the film in a nutshell, despite the total absence of apes in the shot.