– Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

– Stacker score: 87.8

– Metascore: 79

– IMDb user rating: 8.0

– Runtime: 112 minutes

Featuring one of the best surprise endings in movie history, the original “Planet of the Apes” paved the way for a string of sequels, not to mention the 2001 remake or the recent franchise reboot. In the film, an astronaut (Charlton Heston) crash lands on a strange planet, where super intelligent apes run the show and humans are considered an inferior species. Co-written by “Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling, the movie delivers a range of prescient allegories.