I don’t know if it’s iconic or not, but no scene has ever resonated as much with me as Michael giving Fredo the kiss on New Year’s Eve. “You broke my heart.”
Orson Welles in The Third Man, when the light from a window above falls across his face and he smirks charmingly at Joseph Cotten, who has just realized that Harry Lime is alive
John Wayne in The Searchers, trying to avoid telling the young guy exactly what had happened to the dead Lucy: “Don’t ever ask me! As long as you live, don’t you ever ask me!”
Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai, at the end, coming to the realization that his bridgebuilding zeal has been helping the enemy: “What have I done?”
The infamous shot of Robert Blake from In Cold Blood with the patterns of the rain running down the window, thrown onto his face. It was not planned, and came up once they set the shot up.
Beautiful sad image, tells the tale.
No offense, but I’d give it to the British troops whistling as they march.
The Leloo turns ‘pure evil’ into a second moon (our moon in the background…evidence of a previous attack, perhaps?) The Fifth Element
Leloo’s (and the audience’s) first exposure to Future New York
The Robot as a gun pointed at the boy in The Iron Giant it looks very Anime, jarring considering the timeframe and setting of the movie.
Wasn’t the Statue of Liberty buried or knocked over in the wasteland in Planet of the Apes?
Another John Wayne moment…his opening scene in “Stagecoach”–saddle in one hand and twirling Winchester in the other.
Easy Rider When The Guy pulls up and fires the shotgun at the end.
Gladiator when the air fills with fire arrows
Taxi Driver when the camera zooms up to Travis Bickle and he has a mohawk
The pig squeel scene in Deliverance