Every Picture Tells a Story: The Greatest Movie Ending Ever — Point Dume / Malibu, CA (1997)

 

 

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
“YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! AHH, DAMN YOU!”
ZUMA BEACH/POINT DUME — MALIBU, CA (1997)

Zuma Beach was the filming location for one of the greatest movie scenes in history.

At the south end of the nearly 2-mile-long Zuma Beach, near Malibu, is a state park known as Point Dume. The park is little more than a rocky cliff jettisoning out into the Pacific Ocean. The sandy beach and rocky cove are quite typical of California’s scenic coastline.

However, this is a hallowed spot.  This is especially true for fans of movies. The climactic two-minute scene that was shot here as the shocking conclusion to a classic 1968 sci-fi movie makes it a sacred place, even to this day.

 

 

When I first saw the original Planet of the Apes, at a drive-in theatre, I was seven years old.  I didn’t understand much of it.  Talking monkeys?  A distant planet?  Events taking place in the year 3860?  Spoiler Alert: I wasn’t old enough to comprehend the genius of the movie nor make sense of the meaning of the graven image of the Statue of Liberty buried on a beach.  But, it sure looked scary.

When the astronaut Taylor, played by Charlton Heston, falls to his knees and pounds his fists into the sand, and then screams out the final line of the film, “You maniacs!  You blew it up!  Ahh, damn you!  Goddamn you, all to hell!” — those were stunning words for a child to hear.  Movies didn’t use that kind of language in 1968.

 

 

In the decades since then, I’ve seen Planet of the Apes countless times (which is way better than any of the sequels that followed, including a mediocre remake). Each and every time I see that epic final scene, I still get chills. It’s a remarkable visual image, with a powerful message, and is the perfect end to a great movie. No surprise, the screenplay was co-written by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame (there’s an interesting backstory to his role in the making of the movie and that scene — READ HERE).

 

 

In the summer of 1997, we drive up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Monterey, and then north up to San Francisco. That amazing stretch of roadway is one of the most beautiful car trips we’ve ever taken (note to self– time to do this again soon). On the way, we ate lunch in Malibu and someone at the restaurant mentioned Point Dume’s claim to movie fame.  So, we drove to Zuma Beach close by and snapped a few photos.  I even got to play in the waves on the spot where Heston damned everybody to hell.

However, if you ever go there, I must also issue a warning.  Be prepared for a shocker.

Something happened to the Statue of Liberty. It’s not there anymore. It’s missing!

I think I figured it out.

You maniacs!  You blew it up!  Ahh, damn you!

Here’s the final epic scene from Planet of the Apes (1968):

 

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Note: We held a garage sale last month.  While going through old stuff, we found lots of photographs which I’ll be sharing.  A photo does no good tucked away in an album or stored inside a box. A great photo should be shared, especially when it tells a story.  This is Day 12 of the “Every Picture Tells a Story” series.