Monday, October 12, 2015

10/12/2012 Argo launches

October 12, 2012.  The movie Argo was released on this date.  It was based, loosely on the true story of a CIA plot to exfiltrate a group of American embassy employees from Iran after the revolution there.  It won three Oscars including Best Picture of the  year, and I enjoyed it but I was frustrated because of all the great true stuff they left out in favor of standard Hollywood cliches. 

Here are some true events they left out of the movie:
  • The forgers put the wrong date on some of the passports, indicating that the carriers were travelers from the future. 
  • The Canadian cabinet had to meet in secret to authorize false passports.  Then the authorities refused one to the CIA agent, because he had not been included in the vote.
  • When the hero visited the Iranian consulate, he left his portfolio in the taxi cab.
  • The CIA agents’ map of Tehran led them to the Swedish embassy instead of the Canadian one. 
  • On the morning of the actual escape, our hero slept through his alarm.

1 comment:

  1. And I think Roger Zelazny was the writer they got to work on the "script" they were supposedly filming! Best known for science-fiction & fantasy, Zelazny wrote at least one mystery/crime novel!

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