"Argo "f..." yourself!

I read that Argo is getting lots of Oscar buzz, so when Larry and I had a day to ourselves yesterday, we took in an afternoon show. Paying $9 for two tickets is certainly the way to go if you can do it. This incredibly suspenseful movie sped by in two hours. Larry remembered the six hostages being released back in the early 1980's, but I didn't remember any of it. Even though we knew, because history bore it out, that the hostages were freed unharmed, I was still glued to my seat while watching all the events leading up to their release being played out.

Ben Affleck directs this movie and plays Tony Mendez: the CIA's top "exfiltration" specialist to devise a plan to rescue six Americans who escaped the storming of the American Embassy during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. This six found sanctuary in the home of the Canadian Ambassador, Ken Taylor, played by Victor Garber. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time that soon these six would be discovered, and it became imperative to accelerate their escape.

Tony comes up with the idea of creating a ficticious science fiction movie after a telephone call with his young son, not living with him. He and his son love to watch movies together, and Star Wars is his son's favorite science fiction movie. Tony presents his plan to the CIA, and eventually convinces them it is the best of the worst possible choices available for the rescue attempt. He solicits the help of a makeup artist, John Chambers, played by John Goodman to get advice on how to create this movie. Chambers suggests the movie must have a big name in Hollywood associated with it to make it believable. They convince famed producer, Lester Siegel, winner of many movie awards and played by Alan Arkin, to help them. Then,"we're off"! The funniest line of the movie that became its "mantra" was one coined by Siegel at a splashy cocktail party to launch the film at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in response to a reporter's hounding questions, "Argo fuck yourself!"

The movie's premise is that Tony is the movie's producer and with Chambers' and Siegel's help, they create production roles for each of the six hostages along with Canadian identities. The Canadian film crew are considering Iran as a possible location for their film, after finding a previously discarded script, call "Argo". The partnership formed by Canada and the United States during this time of crisis was hailed in synopses cited at the end of the movie as unprecedented in history. The final scenes were nail-biters for sure. Don't miss it.