Overview
See production notesOn November 4, 1979, Iranian Islamists storm the United States Embassy in Tehran in retaliation for the right of asylum granted by President Jimmy Carter to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose Western-supported monarchy was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution. Sixty-six embassy staff are taken hostage, but six avoid capture and are secretly sheltered in the home of Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor. The U.S. State Department explores options for exfiltrating them from Iran and consults Tony Mendez, a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency exfiltration specialist. He criticizes their proposals but offers no alternative until inspired by watching Battle for the Planet of the Apes. The cover story he crafts for the escapees requires them to pose as Canadian filmmakers scouting exotic locations for a science-fiction film in Iran. On the advice of John Chambers, a Hollywood make-up artist who had previously worked for the CIA, Mendez works with film producer Lester Siegel to create a phony film production company. They successfully establish the pretense of developing Argo, a "science fantasy adventure" in the style of Star Wars, to lend the cover story credibility. The revolutionaries reassemble embassy photographs shredded before the takeover and realize some personnel are unaccounted for. Posing as a producer for Argo, Mendez enters Iran under the alias Kevin Harkins and meets with the six escapees, who are growing restless. With the cooperation and under the authority of the Canadian government, Mendez passes along to them Canadian passports and fake identities. The escapees reluctantly go along, knowing that Mendez is also risking his own life. A scouting visit to the bazaar to maintain their cover story takes a bad turn when a hostile shopkeeper harasses them, but their Iranian culture contact hustles them away from the hostile crowd. Mendez is told the operation has been canceled in favor of a planned military rescue of the hostages. He pushes ahead anyway, forcing his boss, Deputy Director Jack O'Donnell, to hastily re-obtain authorization for the mission and rebook their canceled tickets on a Swissair flight. Tensions rise at the airport, where the escapees' new ticket reservations are belatedly confirmed, and the head guard's call to the fake Hollywood production company is answered only at the last second. The escapees board the plane as airport authorities are alerted to the ruse but fail to stop the plane from taking off. U.S. involvement in the rescue is suppressed to protect the remaining hostages from retaliation, and full credit is given to the Canadian government. Taylor shuts down the embassy and leaves Iran with his wife while their Iranian housekeeper escapes to Iraq. Mendez is awarded the Intelligence Star, secretly due to the mission's classified nature, and returns to his wife and son in Virginia. A textual epilogue reveals that the remaining hostages were released after 444 days (1.22 years) in captivity. Chambers, who received the Intelligence Medal of Merit, remained friends with Mendez until his death. Mendez's Intelligence Star was returned to him after Bill Clinton declassified the Canadian Caper in 1997. At the time of the film’s release, Mendez lived with his family in rural Maryland.
Plot from Argo (2012 film)CC BY-SA 4.0
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See all quotesJack O'Donnell: The six of them went out a back exit. Brits turned them away, Kiwis turned them away, Canadians took them in. Traffic calls them the 'Houseguests'; they haven't left the Canadian ambassador's house since it happened. Tony Mendez: Why didn't we get them ten weeks ago? O'Donnell: Too dangerous. You've got Revolutionary Guards going door to door like Jehovah's Witnesses. Half of them think Khomeini's been too lenient on the ones in the embassy. Mendez: What about the White House? O'Donnell: Carter's shitting enough bricks to build the pyramids. The Canadians are done; they say they're bearing too much risk. Their foreign secretary corners Vance in Brussels and told him she wants the six of them out. Mendez: Who else knows? O'Donnell: Just the families. Meanwhile, some genius in our embassy was keeping a mug book on everybody who worked there. Mendez: Jesus Christ! O'Donnell: We think it got shredded before they got in. But now the bastards are using sweatshop kids to reass
Argo (2012 film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Robert Pender: What we like for this now are bicycles. We've identified back roads from the Shemiran district — a couple of rat lines through the mountains to the crossing at Tabriz. Cars are off the table because of the roadblocks. Jon Bates: We wait until the weather clears up then deliver the six bikes, provide them with maps to the Turkish border. Adam Engell: We have intelligence they can ride bicycles or we’re prepared to send in somebody to teach them. Tony Mendez: Or you could just send in training wheels and meet them at the border with Gatorade. It's 300 miles to the Turkish crossings. They'd need a support crew behind them with a tire pump. Engell: We've only been asked to sharpshoot this, State's handling the op. Pender: Who is...? Jack O'Donnell: Tony's an exfil spesh. He got a lot of the Shah's people out after the fall. Mendez: Sir, if these people can read or add, pretty soon they're gonna figure out they're six short of a full deck. It's winter. You can't wait around u
Argo (2012 film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Lester Siegel: Okay, you got six people hiding out in a town of what, four million people, all of whom chant "death to America" all the livelong day. You want to set up a movie in a week. You want to lie to Hollywood, a town where everybody lies for a living. Then you're gonna sneak 007 over here into a country that wants CIA blood on their breakfast cereal, and you're gonna walk the Brady Bunch out of the most watched city in the world. Tony Mendez: Past about a hundred militia at the airport. That's right. Siegel: Right. Look, I gotta tell you. We did suicide missions in the army that had better odds than this.
Argo (2012 film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Tony Mendez: You. Where was your passport issued? Bob Anders: Vancouver. Mendez: Where were you born? Anders: Toronto. Mendez: "Toron-o", Canadians don’t pronounce the T. Lee Schatz: Some Komiteh guard is actually going to know that? Mendez: If you are detained for questioning they will bring in someone who knows that, yes ... Mary, who are the last three prime ministers of Canada? Cora Lijek: Uh, Trudeau, Pearson and Diefenbaker. Mendez: What's your father's name? Lijek: Howard. Mendez: What's his occupation? Lijek: Fisherman. Mendez: Where were you born? Lijek: Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mendez: What's your date of birth? Lijek: February 21, 1952. Mendez: Good. [to Stafford] What's your job on the movie? Joe Stafford: Producer. Mendez: Associate producer. What's the last movie you produced? Stafford: High and Dry. Mendez: Who paid for that? Stafford: The CFDC. Mendez: What's your middle name? [Stafford stammers] What's your middle name? What's your middle name? Stafford: Leon. Mendez: Sho
Argo (2012 film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Reporter: So the title refers to... Lester Siegel: The Argo, it's the, you know, the thing... Reporter: Jason and the Golden Fleece, or...? Siegel: The spaceship, it flies around space, all over space... Reporter: Is it the Argonaut? Siegel: No. Reporter: Then what does "Argo" mean? Siegel: It means, Argo fuck yourself.
Argo (2012 film), CC BY-SA 4.0
Stansfield Turner: You're telling me there's a movie office in Hollywood right now that's funded by the CIA. Tony Mendez: Yes, sir. Cyrus Vance: What's wrong with the bikes again? Jack O'Donnell: We tried to get the message upstairs. Turner: You think... You think this is more plausible than teachers? O'Donnell: Yes we do. One, there are no more foreign teachers in Iran. Mendez: And, we think everybody knows Hollywood people. And everybody knows they would shoot in Stalingrad with Pol Pot directing if it'd sell tickets. There are only bad options. It's about finding the best one. Turner: You don't have a better bad idea than this? O'Donnell: This is the best bad idea we have, sir. By far. Turner: [short pause] The United States government just sanctioned your science fiction movie.
Argo (2012 film), CC BY-SA 4.0
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