ARGO

I have the reputation of not liking a lot of movies.   I quite disagree with this or I would not do what I do.  I love movies and what they can represent of our culture.  Maybe that is what terrifies me the most.
ARGO is a great movie.  It will not be a classic in the sense of GONE WITH THE WIND or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.  It is well crafted and well acted and that makes it good.
The story is well know for anyone over 40 years old and those under if they stayed awake in history class know of the Iranian hostage crisis.  This is a mostly true story of the escape of 6 United States embassy workers from Iran.

The movie opens giving details of the 1979 Iranian Revolution for the uninitiated, where Tehran’s U.S. embassy is besieged in retaliation for the country’s support of a deposed Shah. Six employees evading capture and holing up at a Canadian ambassador’s residence, American intelligence in Washington, DC enlist CIA exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to help plot a cover that would explain their presence in Tehran.
Mendez eventually devises the ingeniously demented deception; to have the six pose as members of a film crew, with Mendez purporting to fly out there to scout a location, and return with them in tow. Aiding him in his prep are Academy Award-winning make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman), and film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), who will help establish the apparent legitimacy of their production – an epic Star Wars knock-off called Argo – with the Iranian government.

The movie passes the history as I remember it test.  The Hollywood parts would seem to have no part of a drama happening on the other side of the planet, but it does.  Arkin plays himself well as he plays his character.  I say this as one who has met the man and know what a pompous actor he can be.  Bryan Cranston plays Mendezs' boss in Washington, DC and is marvelous.
Two things I know about this movie that is not seen is that while they all escape safely, it was not like on the big screen.  The plane they were leaving in had electrical problems and sat on the tarmac for 2 hours while it was investigated and repaired.  I can imagine the thoughts going through their heads during that time.  The other is that this movie ARGO was actually taken form a script called SCIENCE FICTION LAND.
Tony Mendez presented the government of Iran with a science fiction film called Argo, the materials he was presenting them with started out as a very real adaptation of a Roger Zelazny novel called “Lord of Light.” Adapted for the screen by Barry Ira Gellar, Lord of Light boasted names like Buckminster Fuller and Ray Bradbury on its staff as consultants, it was going to use design work by comic book legend Jack Kirby, it had an unheard-of-at-the-time budget of $50 million, and it was planned to eventually spawn a huge theme park complete with jet packed security guards and a holographic zoo.  It either died from fraud or government conspiracy, you research it and decide.  I just added it to fill out the history of the movie.
Rated R for profanity, violence, adult themes.