Saturday, November 24, 2012

ARGO


Went to the movies recently with TLW (The Little Woman) and saw a great motion picture starring Ben Afleck, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston and Alan Arkin in ‘ARGO’, about the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.

The movie, directed by Ben Affleck: and this guy is a talent, takes you back in history during those terrible days of the hostage situation!

It was a splendid mix of both newsreel and Hollywood, and tells the remarkable story of how Hollywood rose to the occasion of patriotic duty, devising a clever and intricate scheme to fool the Iranian hostage takers and revolutionary government.

Argo is the name of a movie or screen-play that is used not to bring in viewers or sell tickets, but set up to make the Iranians THINK there is a legitimate movie, when in fact it is a ruse.

It is a movie that will bring you back in time. The cast, the wardrobe and the background scenery are all done so well that it is hard to believe it is not real. If you remember your history then you know the outcome, but still are on the edge of your seat, the tension high and you have to keep reminding yourself how it ended.

I won’t tell you more than I have, and I will tell you if you haven’t seen this movie, you better get to it before it is gone! It does a very good job of explaining the hatred toward the Shah and the US, and why we are where we are today. If there is one criticism I have, it is that unless you know the history, as they introduce the characters in the movie, they never tell you who they are or what their title is.

TLW completely agrees with me that the movie was suspenseful and well executed.

I really loved the character played by Alan Arkin as a crusty old Hollywood veteran director. Do yourself a favor and don’t miss it!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Courtney and I watched it last night and loved it! Ben Affleck is a really talented director AND actor. I vaguely remember the Iran Hostage crisis because I was 7 years old at the time. I mostly remember seeing it on the news every night and watching the Iranians burn Jimmy Carter in effigy in the streets. It scared me! Alan Arkin was fantastic, wasn't he? And I don't know if you recognized it -- but a lot of the Hollywood shots were filmed on the Warner Brothers studio lot, where we shoot The Big Bang Theory.

-#1 Son

Joseph Del Broccolo said...

Yes Anthony, we caught the shots at WB immediately! It was a great movie.