This is going to be “Catch-up on Movies” week on this blog. ARGO came out months ago, but we just found time to see it last week. ARGO tells the story of a CIA operation to rescue six U.S. Embassy employees in Tehran, Iran who managed to escape the take-over of the Embassy by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards back in 1979. The six employees found refuge at the home of the Canadian Ambassador. But time was running out, discovery was imminent. So CIA extraction specialist, Tony Mendez, came up with an unlikely solution: pretend the six employees were Canadians who are part of a film crew looking for locales for a science fiction movie called ARGO. Ben Affleck both directs and stars in this gripping thriller. GRADE: A-
I really enjoyed this one. Of note to SF fans, the script for the film was for Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. Many of the concept drawings were from Jack Kirby. There is an acknowledgement to Kirby late in the film’s credits. The film might have been wonderful to see. Apparently the script was written right after Star Wars appeared and hoped to cash in on the appeal.
Wow, I had no idea ARGO was based on LORD OF LIGHT (one of my favorite SF novels!), Scott. ARGO won the BEST PICTURE Golden Globe last night.
Without doubt this was one of the best movies of the year. Even though you know the outcome they manage to generate an amazing amount of tension. And the humor of the Arkin-Goldman scenes really works .
It’s a travesty Affleck wasn’t nominated for Best Director.
Affleck walked away with a Golden Globe for BEST DIRECTOR last night, Jeff. That’s just as good in my book.
I liked it a lot although being around historians has reminded me that the ending was pure fantasy, Art trumps truth, I saw.
No doubt the movie ratchets up the tension, Patti. But, I’m willing to grant Artistic License to such an entertaining movie.
Hey, it’s Hollywood. No one is pretending it was a documentary.Shortly after it happened (1981) there was a made-for-television Canadian film about ambassador Ken Taylor’s efforts to get them out. It was pretty good, as I remember. It was called ESCAPE FROM IRAN: THE CANADIAN CAPER, and the ubiquitous Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent played Taylor.
Patti, Affleck said, “Because we say it’s based on a true story, rather than this is a true story, we’re allowed to take some dramatic license. There’s a spirit of truth.”
I’m with Affleck on dramatic license, Jeff.
When Argo came out Macleans had a grumpy little article on it. They were not amused because they thought the film minimized Canada’s contribution to the proceedings.
I didn’t feel like ARGO minimized the Canadian Ambassador’s role, Drongo. With the Revolutionary Guards in the streets, everyone was at great risk.
That’s the first awards show I’ve watched in years, and we enjoyed (most of) it. I guess there’s just no way to keep people from rambling on when they win. Jodie Foster sure did. I thought Tina Fey was great (and that first dress she wore – or her in it – was a huge wow) but the other co-host not so much. I expected LINCOLN to win best picture.
Roger Ebert picked ARGO as the BEST PICTURE of 2012, Rick. He’s a good barometer of the sentiment in Hollywood. I think that with Speilberg winning so many Awards, the voters went in a different direction.
BTW, I have ordered 2 of the nominated soundtracks.
Which soundtracks did you order, Rick? I’m guessing LINCOLN was one of them.
Yes, LINCOLN was one, the other is LIFE OF PI.
The soundtrack for LIFE OF PI won the Golden Globe for Best Soundtrack, Rick.
Yes, I watched them, so I saw that.
I had thought we would see this in the theater but it didn’t work out, looks really good and I’m glad to see you rated it highly.
You will love ARGO when you see it, Carl. Plenty of suspense!