Argo (2012) Movie Script
WOMAN:
This is the Persian empire...
...known today as Iran.
For 2500 years, this land was ruled
by a series of kings...
...known as shahs.
In 1950, the people of Iran elected
Mohammad Mosaddegh...
...a secular democrat, as prime minister.
He nationalized British and U.S.
petroleum holdings...
...returning Iran's oil to its people.
But in 1953...
...the U.S. and Great Britain engineered
a coup d'tat that deposed Mosaddegh...
...and installed Reza Pahlavi as shah.
The young shah was known
for opulence and excess.
His wife was rumored to bathe in milk...
...while the shah had his lunches
flown in by Concorde from Paris.
The people starved.
The shah kept power through his ruthless
internal police:
The SAVAK.
An era of torture and fear began.
He then began a campaign
to westernize Iran...
...enraging a mostly traditional Shiite
population.
In 1979, the people of Iran
overthrew the shah.
The exiled cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini,
returned to rule Iran.
It descended into score-settling,
death squads and chaos.
(CROWD SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
Dying of cancer,
the shah was given asylum in the U. S.
The Iranian people took to the streets
outside the U.S. embassy...
...demanding that the shah be returned...
...tried...
...and hanged.
Based on a true story.
U.S. Embassy, Iran - November 4, 1979
(CROWD CHANTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
The carnival's a little bigger today, huh?
Windows are supposed to be
bulletproof, right?
Well, they've never been tested.
CORA: You just need to finish
filling out this section here.
We can process your visa.
(CHANTING CONTINUES OUTSIDE)
(MEN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER RADIO)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(CHANTING CONTINUES)
We need some security.
Yes, it's your responsibility.
They're over the walls.
We should all split.
I'm gonna close up my office.
(SHOUTING AND CHANTING)
ANN:
Oh, my God.
Marines to Number One. Fall back.
- Can anyone hear me? We need help.
- I need police right now. Right now, goddamn it!
- Jesus.
CORA: Can anybody hear me?
SCOTT:
There was a breach.
Just burn everything! Burn it now!
All right, burn everything!
All the files, file cabinet, safe.
Let's get a cart over here. Burn it all.
Come on.
DAUGHERTY: Burn everything!
Burn the classifieds! Everything!
GOLACINSKI: Don't fucking shoot anybody.
You don't wanna be the son of a bitch
who started a war.
They need an hour to burn the classified.
I need you to hold.
If you shoot one person, they're gonna kill
every single one of us in here.
I'm telling you,
if we're going to go, we need to go now.
- Okay, we need to make a decision...
- Can we wait until the Iranian police come?
No, the police aren't coming.
It's been 45 minutes.
- How do you know?
- The police have abandoned their posts.
If the police are not coming,
then the army's gonna come.
The prime minister won't let
the embassy be taken over.
The prime minister may
come tomorrow, but the
Komiteh are here today.
So we have to evacuate.
Look at me. No one is coming.
(ALL CLAMORING)
AHERN: Get the desk drawers. Everything.
Don't sort it.
Get it down to the incinerator
in the vault! Go, now!
Tear gas as a last resort only.
(OVER RADIO) I repeat: only
if your life is under threat.
(MUFFLED CHATTERING)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
In here, we are in America right now.
Outside, we are in Iran.
STAFFORD: It's on American soil...
- I'm not going out into that.
CORA:
They're not safe here.
If they get caught applying for visas
to the U.S.?
Mark, we are in the only building
with direct access to the street.
- If we're going to go, then we need to go now.
- Yeah, I'm in.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, let's go.
(ALL CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
- I'm going outside.
- Why?
To reason with them.
(INCINERATOR WHIRRING)
Open the door!
Open the fucking door!
You said you wanted to see the world,
right, Tom?
GOLACINSKI:
Let me in! Let me in!
(CROWD SHOUTING AND CHANTING)
DAUGHERTY:
Burn it all. Come on.
Get the safe, get the filing cabinets,
get it all.
(FOOTSTEPS)
ANDERS: All four drawers,
I want them shredded right now.
STAFFORD:
Not gonna shred fast enough.
ANDERS:
Grab the visa plates!
All four! And anything else
you see out there.
When in doubt, just shred it!
We got 10 minutes!
Let's go, let's go, let's go! Everything!
(RATTLES THEN STOPS)
Get the shredder.
ANN:
There are no police.
ANDERS:
Jesus.
STAFFORD: (IN FARSI)
Leave the building, go now.
Iranians go first.
Now, hurry!
(CROWD SHOUTING)
Who has made this?!
It's done. They're in.
(CHATTERING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Okay, come on.
We gotta get off the streets.
This way. Up here to the left.
- These fucks hit us, we can't hit them back?
- Mosaddegh, we did it to them first.
These fucks hit us,
we can't hit them back?
Mosaddegh, we did it to them first.
You think the Soviets would put up with this shit?
They'd invade. STATE DEPARTMENT - 7TH FLOOR
You think the Soviets would put up
with this shit? They'd invade.
We helped the guy torture
and de-ball an entire population.
- How many were there?
- At least 50. We're not sure.
- Schafer!
GENCO: You still haven't found Schafer?
No, I was screaming his name
because I was fucking him.
CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, TEHRAN
VANCE: Come in.
CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, TEHRAN
BATES:
It's confirmed, sir. Six escaped.
VANCE: I was told five.
BATES: No, sir, apparently it's six.
VANCE: What happened?
- Not clear. We know they escaped.
VANCE: What happened? -Not clear. We know they escaped.
SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE
VANCE: Where are they? -The
Canadian ambassador's house.
VANCE: Where are they?
- The Canadian ambassadors house.
- Do they stay put? Are we attempting rescue?
- Hold for the Secretary of State.
Yes. ls White House joining?
They claim the embassy
was a den of espionage.
We wish it was.
We wish it was.
CI's got three people over
there, they don't see a
revolution coming?
WHITE HOUSE, CHIEF OF STAFF'S OFFICE
- Call it something other than intelligence.
- Hold for the chief of staff.
- Hodding.
- I'll call him back.
BUTLER: They're sticking.
No release till we expel the shah.
- Put him on a plane, then. Fuck him.
- He's half-dead and he's in chemo.
We took him in. He's ours now.
Great, so we'll take in any prick
as long as he's got cancer?
JORDAN:
No, just the pricks on our side.
So all our other pricks on their prick thrones
know when they get thrown out on a rail...
...they won't get their fucking spleens
taken out by some camel vet in Sinai.
What about the six
who are with the Canadians?
We've got 60 in the embassy with guns
to their heads right now.
The whole world is watching the embassy.
They're safer than the six on the street.
Banisadr's saying it'll be over
in 24 hours.
We leave the six where they are.
I'll go brief the president.
All right, let's get to it.
KOPPEL: So far official comments about the
incident have been a model of restraint.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard
has rounded up a gang of terrorists...
...blamed for one murder of a half-dozen
followers of Ayatollah Khomeini.
It says security at Khomeini's home
now has been tightened.
This, by the way, is the 69th day that the
American hostages have been held in Tehran.
There is no change reported
in the hostage situation.
(PHONE RINGING)
In this country, George Meany died
last night. He was 85 years old.
Yeah.
Yes.
What?
WALLACE: (ON RADIO)
To begin with, of course...
...we wanted to learn about the hostages
held in the American embassy compound.
REYNOLDS: They may not understand what
their ordeal means to their countrymen.
But this nation, their nation, is outraged.
And we cannot really know what it is like
inside the prison that was once our embassy.
And we cannot really know what
it is like inside the prison
that was once our embassy.
C.I.A. HEADQUARTERS, VIRGINIA
CARTER: (ON TV) Actions of Iran
have shocked the civilized world.
Our embassy has been seized...
...and more than 60 American citizens
continue to be held as hostages.
PAULEY: The situation in Iran this morning
is unchanged in regard to the hostages.
NBC's situation in Iran has changed,
however.
(PAULEY SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
ON TV)
- Is he back there?
- Office.
TONY:
What happened?
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.
- Why didn't we get them 10 weeks ago?
- Too dangerous.
You got Revolutionary Guards going
door-to-door like Jehovah's Witnesses.
Half of them think that Khomeini's been
too lenient on the ones in the embassy.
What about the White House?
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.
- Who else knows?
- Just the families.
Meanwhile, some genius in our embassy
was keeping a mug book...
...on everybody who worked there.
- Jesus Christ.
O'DONNELL: We think it got shredded
before they got in.
But now the bastards are using sweatshop
kids to reassemble the shreds.
And once they reassemble that book
they'll know six Americans got out.
And they'll know what they look like.
Standing room only
for beheadings in the square.
- Who's handling?
- State is coordinating in-house.
State?
- They don't do exfils.
- They do now.
They want to run it by us,
strictly as consultants.
Engell says it's a lose-lose.
These people die, they die badly. Publicly.
State wants the blame,
we'll give it to them.
What does he want me here for?
So he can tell State
he ran it by his best exfil guy.
ENGELL:
Okay.
This is Bob Pender from State O.S.
He's been talking to Morgan at ExtAff.
- Bob?
- Thank you.
All right.
Mark and Cora Lijek.
Twenty-nine and 25. He's a consular
officer, she's an assistant.
Newlyweds. They only just got there
a couple months ago.
No language skills or in-country knowledge.
Henry Lee Schatz.
Agricultural attach from Idaho.
A bit of an oddball, apparently.
He was there to sell
U.S. tractors to Iranian agro.
Joe Stafford. Late 20s.
He's smart and a climber.
Speaks Farsi.
He arranged the hire of his wife, Kathy.
Embassy was understaffed,
so the faculty wives were the typing pool.
And Bob Anders. Senior consular officer...
...oldest of the group
and most likely to be group leader.
They're in hiding at the Canadian
ambassador's residence.
Fortunately, we do not believe the Iranians
are aware the six have escaped.
So, what we like for this are bicycles.
We've identified back roads
from the Shemiran district.
A couple of rat lines
through the mountains...
...to the crossing near Tabriz.
Cars are off the table
because of the roadblocks.
We wait till the weather clears up...
...then deliver the six bikes, provide them
with maps to the Turkish border.
PENDER: We have intelligence
they can ride bicycles.
Or we're prepared to send in
somebody to teach them.
Or you could just send in training wheels
and meet them at the border with Gatorade.
O'DONNELL:
Tony.
It's 300 miles to the Turkish border.
They'd need a support team
following them with a tire pump.
ENGELL:
We were just asked to sharpshoot this.
State is handling the op.
I'm sorry, who is this?
Tony's an exfil spesh. He got a lot
of the shah's people out after the fall.
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
afford to wait around till
spring so it's nice enough
to take a bike ride.
The only way out of that city is the airport.
Build new cover identities for them...
...you send in a Moses,
he takes them out on a commercial flight.
- We've explored those options. ENGELL:
They'll never get past airport control.
- Komiteh own the place.
BATES: They could pose as reporters.
- The government issued 70-something...
- Seventy-four.
...visas for American journalists.
The Revolutionary Guards
keep them on 74 leashes.
If they're caught with
fake journalist creds,
it's Peter Jennings' head
in a noose in an hour.
North American accents
gives us limited options.
So we get the Canadians
to issue them passports.
What about English teachers
at the international school?
It's a good idea, but that school's been
closed for eight months.
BATES:
Okay, so how about the do-gooders?
Six Canadians have been
over there inspecting
crops, making sure the
kids get enough to eat.
We give them creds,
makes them look like Ag NGOs.
It's a Feed the Kids thing. Okay?
Those kids are black.
Those are African kids.
- We get ethnically appropriate kids.
LAMONT: Are there starving kids in Iran?
I'm sure there's some skinny kids
in Iran, so...
LAMONT: What about missionaries?
- A logo with seeds. Call it "Seeds of Hope."
Hold on.
Sir, do you have this newspaper in front
of you? Would you mind taking a look at it?
What's in this picture?
- Tehran.
TONY: Right. What's on the ground?
- Snow.
TONY: Right.
So, what crops are the do-gooders
inspecting under Frosty?
Sir, exfils are like abortions.
You don't wanna need one...
...but when you do, you
don't do it yourself.
You have a better plan?
No, sir.
REYNOLDS: (ON RADIO) Whatever
the conicting signals from Iran today...
...and for that matter, every day...
...about whether the hostages will
or will not be tried as spies...
...the government of the United States
has not deviated from its basic demand:
The hostages must be freed.
...claims to defend human rights,
it not only does not defend them...
...it violates them for all nations.
We demand extradition...
We demand extradition...
...of a man who, for more
than 37 years, with the
United States' support...
U.S. EMBASSY, TEHRAN
...of a man who, for more than 37 years,
with the United States' support...
...has killed months-old babies
in the arms of their mothers.
MAN 1: He said if the Americans try
military force to rescue the hostages...
...the students will kill them all
and blow up the embassy.
MAN 2: Americans were outraged at Iran
and anyone Iranian.
MAN 3: Before that decision was taken,
there was a demonstration in Houston.
An Iranian flag was burned...
...when anti-Iranian demonstrators
gathered near the Iranian consulate.
MAN 4: ... also is what led to a decision
to scrutinize the visas of Iranians...
They knew exactly what was going to happen.
They knew.
But I don't understand
what they should do now.
Send him back,
just to be tortured and killed?
I don't think that justice
is the worst thing.
When did people first tell you that torture
was going on in Iran?
They would never come to me and say,
"Well, sir, we have tortured this fellow. "
WALLACE: (ON TV) President Sadat of Egypt,
he calls you, Imam...
Forgive me, his words, not mine.
...a lunatic.
Why didn't he have a choice?
Why do you think he didn't have a choice?
TAYLOR: He would've been
referred to as a barbarian.
ANDERS: That's why they're saying
that their current regime...
The shah did more for women's rights...
TAYLOR: I think you'd better...
Please, everyone, get into the crawlspace.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)
NEWSCASTER 1: (ON TV) At one point,
the mob cornered one of the Iranians.
When he tried to protect himself,
this is what happened.
DEMONSTRATOR:
Just hit him again!
We're not gonna take it any more!
We're sick of it!
America!
MAN: Even in our little community here, I mean,
people are drawn up tight, they're tense.
They shouldn't even let those students
in that embassy there.
Just shoot a couple of them,
show them we mean business.
NEWSCASTER 2: Men who served in Vietnam
for what they believed was right are angry.
I'm mad as hell.
I'm like the guy screaming on that movie
program in Network, you know? I've had it.
And if need be, I'll bear arms again.
CRONKITE: And that's the way it is
Wednesday, January 16th, 1980.
The 74th day of captivity
for 50 Americans in Iran.
(RINGING)
- Hello?
TONY: (OVER PHONE) Buddy man.
IAN:
I'll get Mom.
I'm looking for you.
Did you do your homework tonight?
- Yeah, it was easy.
- Excellent. What are we watching?
Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
Tell me, what channel is it on?
Five.
All right.
- What'd you do at school today?
- Nothing. I don't know. Nothing.
Can't be nothing.
Something must've happened.
After school I got some baseball cards.
- Mm-hm.
- That was fun.
(IAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
OVER PHONE)
TONY: Okay, you know those
science-fiction movies?
Star Trek, Star Wars.
They need an exotic location to shoot.
Moonscape, Mars, desert, you know.
Now, imagine this:
They're a Canadian film crew on a location
scout for a science-fiction movie.
We put it out there...
The Canadian producers put it out there.
...That we're looking at Egypt, Istanbul.
Then we go to the consulate and say,
"Hey, we wanna look at Iran too."
I fly into Tehran, we all fly out together
as a film crew. Done.
Flamboyant cover identities should be avoided,
as it increases operational visibility.
This is more plausible than foreigners
who wanna go be teachers in Iran.
You wanna blend in with the population,
you don't look like a rodeo clown.
Just gonna wake up tomorrow morning
and be in the movie business?
We already have credentials
for the teachers.
- No, sir, we have a contact in L.A.
- Chambers.
John Chambers.
He's a Hollywood prosthetics guy.
He's got an Oscar, he did
Planet of the Apes. Did
a bunch of contract work
for us in the past.
I go see him, he sets us up.
One, two days, make it look real.
(CROWD CHANTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
I went outside for 30 seconds. Could you give me a break?
I can't breathe in this house.
- I need some fresh air. I can't breathe.
SCHATZ: Stay inside the fucking house.
- Who saw me go outside? I'm just curious.
- That's not the point, Bob.
- It doesn't matter who saw you go out.
- Did you see me?
- No.
- I did, okay? I saw you.
Bob, it only takes one second
for them to spot you.
KHALKALI: (IN FARSI)
Some Americans are missing.
Look at the repaired list
of embassy employees.
The numbers don't match.
Finish assembling the
pictures from the embassy.
All I need is their faces
and I will find them.
(IN FARSI)
Yes, sir, it will be done.
We want you to go to L.A.
If you can make the movie thing credible,
we'll take you to the director.
Don't fuck up.
The whole country is watching you.
They just don't know it.
WOMAN 1:
My creation.
My creation.
(SCREAMING)
What the fuck, Brian?
- Cut.
MAN: We're cutting.
WOMAN 2: What an idiot.
WOMAN 1: It really hurt.
BRIAN:
I'm sorry.
Chambers. John Chambers, makeup!
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19, 1980
He says the Minotaur prosthetic
is too tight, so he can't act.
If he could act, he wouldn't
be playing the Minotaur.
MAN:
Mr. Chambers?
Kevin Harkins.
Hey, Tony.
JOHN:
Watch your head.
TONY:
What are you shooting?
JOHN:
Monster movie.
TONY:
Yeah? Any good?
(JOHN SIGHS)
Target audience will hate it.
Who's the target audience?
People with eyes.
Talk to me.
It's an exfil.
From where?
Worst place you can think of.
Universal City.
How are you gonna get into the embassy?
They're not in the embassy.
During the takeover, six people escaped.
They're hiding out in Tehran.
- And that's who I'm gonna go get.
- What am I making?
I need you to help me make a fake movie.
Heh. You came to the right place.
I wanna set up a production company
and build a cover around making a movie.
- That we're not gonna make.
- No.
So you wanna come to Hollywood
and act like a big shot?
- Without actually doing anything?
- No.
You'll fit right in.
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS)
JOHN:
Let's see.
Well, this one's got an M.A. in English.
She should be your screenwriter.
Sometimes they go along on scouts
because they want the free meals.
Here's your director.
Can you teach somebody
to be a director in a day?
You can teach a rhesus monkey
to be a director in a day.
Look, if you're gonna do this,
you gotta do it.
The Kho-maniacs are Froot Loops,
but they got cousins...
...who sell prayer rugs
and eight-tracks on La Brea.
You can't build cover stories
around a movie that doesn't exist.
You need a script. You need a producer.
- Make me a producer.
- No.
You're an associate producer at best.
If you're gonna do a $20 million
Star Wars rip-off...
...you need somebody who's a somebody
to put their name on it.
Somebody respectable.
With credits.
Who you can trust
with classified information.
Who'll produce a fake movie.
For free.
Hi. I only got a couple of minutes.
I'm getting a lifetime achievement award.
- Mazel tov, Lester.
LESTER: Ah.
I'd rather stay home and count
the wrinkles on my dog's balls.
Okay, you got six people hiding out
in a town of, what, 4 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.
Past about a hundred militia
at the airport. That's right.
Right.
Look, I gotta tell you.
We did suicide missions in the Army
that had better odds than this.
Sir, the car is here.
(CROWD CHANTING ON TV)
JOHN: You ever think, Lester,
how this is all for the cameras?
Well, they're getting the ratings,
I'll say that for...
We're gonna need a script.
(CROWD SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
(GLASS SHATTERS)
Here, come on, come on, come on.
- No, it's fine.
- Stop.
(GUNSHOTS IN DISTANCE)
Okay.
KATHY:
I love you.
PAT: (IN FARSI)
Sahar, how are you doing?
SAHAR: (IN FARSI)
Fine, thank you.
Your friends from Canada, ma'am.
All this time. They never go out.
Sahar knows.
JOHN:
How about The Horses of Achilles?
No good. Nobody does Westerns any more.
- It's ancient Troy.
- If it's got horses in it, it's a Western.
Hey, Kenny, please.
Yeah, it's John Chambers,
about the office space.
It doesn't matter. It's a fake movie.
If I'm doing a fake movie,
it's gonna be a fake hit.
O'DONNELL: (OVER PHONE) The cardinal wants all
cover options on his desk Friday morning.
Engell's prepping the bikes option,
the teachers option.
You have 72 hours to make yours better.
Fine.
Hey, is A006 still on the open list?
Yeah, I'll hold.
"Fade in on a starship landing.
An exotic, Middle Eastern vibe.
Women gather, offering ecstatic
libations to the sky gods.
Argo. A science-fantasy adventure."
- it's in turnaround. It's dog shit.
- It's a space movie in the Middle East.
- Does it matter?
- Can we get the option?
Why do we need the option?
You're worried about the Ayatollah?
Try the WGA.
LESTER:
Just let me do the talking.
I've known this guy for 25 years.
He's full of shit and he comes on hard...
...but I can handle him.
You want to go into production
with this in one month?
Up like a carny ride.
One month, yeah.
- Who are you again?
- Kevin Harkins. Studio Six Films.
He's the money.
Look, what do you say 15 thou
and let's close on this?
You want me to be honest with you, Les?
LESTER:
No. I would like you to bullshit me, Max.
All right.
I enjoyed your films. The early ones.
I took this meeting out of respect,
because I wanted to say no to your face.
Thank you. Very respectful.
You're finished, Lester.
Get your cataracts fixed, read the trades.
MGM just capitalized for six new films.
They're screaming for sci-fi.
They're offering me four times
what you guys are offering me.
Well, what can I say?
Congratulations.
But, see, it kind of worries me,
what you said, and let me tell you why.
Couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at
Trader Vic's, I was enjoying a Mai Tai...
...when my pal Warren Beatty comes in.
He wishes me well, we had a little chat.
Seems he was attached
to star in Zulu Empire...
...which was gonna anchor that MGM slate.
But Warren confided in me
that the picture's gone over budget...
...because the Zulu extras wanna unionize.
They may be cannibals,
but they want health and dental...
...so the movie's kaput.
Which means that the MGM deal
ain't gonna happen...
...and your script ain't worth
the buffalo shit on a nickel.
So the way it looks to me...
Through the cataracts, I grant you.
...Is that you can either sign here...
...and take $10,000
for your toilet paper script...
...or you can go fuck yourself.
With all due respect.
You really know Warren Beatty?
Yes, I do. I took a leak next to him
once at the Golden Globes.
Taco?
Got any kids, Lester?
Yeah. I have two daughters.
You see them much?
I talk to them once a year.
- Maybe.
- Why is that?
I was a terrible father.
The bullshit business,
it's like coal mining.
You come home to your wife and kids,
you can't wash it off.
You?
Yeah, I got a son.
He lives in Virginia with his mother.
You're divorced?
Taking time off.
He needs to be, you know...
...where he is.
Kids need the mother.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
They caught the shah's chief of security
trying to get on a plane to Paris.
Listen.
Since the incident, the number of guards
at the airport has doubled.
Thorough background examinations
should be expected.
The movie cover isn't strong enough yet.
I need another week, Jack.
You don't have it.
TONY:
We got an office.
We got business cards.
We got a poster.
If I'm the Revolutionary Guard, that's
nothing we couldn't have made at home.
Six people's lives depend on this.
It's not enough. If we're gonna fool
these people, it has to be big.
And it has to have something
that says it's authentic.
I did a movie with Rock Hudson one time.
If you wanna sell a lie...
You get the press to sell it for you.
No, no, no. Press event and then
they're gonna read through the script.
Well, they got a bunch of actors,
they're gonna read from beginning to end.
They have costumes and everything.
No, no, no, I can't.
Variety has an exclusive on that.
Is there any way to make this
more Middle Eastern?
Mesopotamia? Egypt?
Iran.
LESTER: Look, I can get you in, but you're
gonna have to promise me at least half a page.
No, no, this thing's an event.
It's gonna be a spectacle.
(INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE)
NINA: Lester?
- Nina. You look fabulous.
You're doing the reading?
I'm playing Serksi, the Galactic Witch.
Great. I'll call you.
Keep that fucking space witch
away from me.
- You know her?
- I was married to her.
Oh, my God, Iraq is amazing.
Oh, we're shooting in Iran.
Iran with an N?
Yeah. We're very excited.
You ever watch the news?
What does the title refer to?
The Argo. You know, it's the thing.
Like Jason and the Golden Fleece,
or what?
No, no. It's the ship. It's the spaceship.
It goes everywhere.
It goes all throughout space.
So it's the Argonaut.
No.
- What does "Argo" mean?
- I don't know.
You don't know?
It means "Argo fuck yourself."
(GLASS CLINKING)
JOHN: Excuse me. May I have
your attention, ladies and gentlemen?
If our artists could settle in. We're
just about ready to begin the reading.
Argo, by Mary Ann Boyd.
"Fade in on starship landing.
Exterior, bazaar.
An exotic, Middle Eastern vibe."
(JOHN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
TEHRAN MARY: (ON TV)
The people working here are not diplomats.
In fact, as Imam Khomeini said...
...we have found no evidence that proves
that these people are diplomats.
All evidence proves
that these people are spies.
In the name of God,
the beneficent, the merciful...
...our message to the awakened peoples
of the world:
At this time we want
to expose the hateful acts...
NINA:
Our world has changed.
The fire of hope stopped burning
in this galaxy long ago.
The ship is turning around.
Fire the thrusters!
NINA: He says a gravitational field
that strong will kill anyone.
CARTER: (ON TV)
- -Were completely unjustified.
They and all others must know...
...that the United States of America
will not yield...
...to international
terrorism or to blackmail.
DROID: Sir! We'll be crushed!
There's not enough time!
TEHRAN MARY:... are controlled by
capitalists and large oil companies.
The United States government considers
revolutionaries as terrorists...
...but itself and its CIA are the most
terrorizing organization of all time.
JOHN: "The story was told,
but there are infinitely more.
Three setting suns.
The princess's robes fall from her body."
ALEPPA: If we find his ship
we will find our chance.
Aboard the Argo lies
my hope, my hero, my husband.
We will begin the trials
and carry out the sentences.
CRONKITE: You wonder where and how this
seemingly endless parade of hatred will end.
CRONKITE: You wonder where
and how this seemingly
endless parade of hatred will end.
What do they want? They say the question
should be not "what?" but "who?"
What do they want? They say the question
should be not "what?" but "who?"
The answer to that is clear.
They want their former shah.
TEHRAN MARY: ... Carter and his administration
shameful to talk about human rights.
Carter and his government have given
asylum to the worst criminal of all.
For life?
TRANSLATOR: They will remain
until the shah is returned.
CRONKITE: But if the exiled shah,
now in a New York City hospital...
...leaves the United States
for any place other than Iran...
...harsher decisions will be taken
against the hostages.
(LEADER SHOUTS IN FARSI
THEN GUNS CLICKING)
(GASPS THEN SOBS)
JOHN: "We cut outside
to the Shidoori Dome...
...holding on a single red ower...
...as it grows from the ruins
of a starship in the desert.
Fade to black." The end.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
LESTER:
There is it. What'd I tell you?
First shot of the picture.
Argo fuck yourself.
BOTH:
Argo fuck yourself.
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING)
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING) OFFICE OF THE
SECRETARY OF STATE JANUARY 25, 1980
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
JANUARY 25, 1980
Brace yourself. It's like talking to
those two old fucks on The Muppets.
TURNER:
Aliens and robots?
Yes, sir.
You're telling me that there is a movie
company in Hollywood right now...
...that is funded by the CIA?
Yes, sir.
- What's wrong with the bikes again?
- We tried to get the message upstairs, sir.
You think this is more plausible
than teachers?
Yes, we do. One, there are no
more foreign teachers in Iran.
And we think everybody
knows Hollywood people.
Everybody knows they'd shoot in Stalingrad with
Pol Pot directing if it would sell tickets.
There are only bad options.
It's about finding the best one.
You don't have a better bad idea than this?
This is the best bad idea we have, sir.
By far.
The United States government has just
sanctioned your science-fiction movie.
Thank you, sir.
(BOTH SIGH)
I'm required to remind you that if you are
detained, the agency will not claim you.
Barely claim me as it is.
Your "in case of's" good?
It's just Christine.
I should've brought some books
to read in prison.
No.
They'll kill you long before prison.
- Thanks for the ride.
- Yeah.
(RINGS)
Studio Six.
We got a green light. Keep the office
running until you hear otherwise.
Argo fuck yourself.
Argo fuck yourself.
(RINGING)
(LINE RINGING)
WOMAN: (OVER PA)
Your attention, please.
This is the final boarding call
for British Airways Flight 87.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
(KHOMEINI SPEAKING IN FARSI ON TV)
STAFFORD:
"We are a nation of 35 million.
And many of these people are looking
forward to martyrdom."
(FOOTSTEPS)
- Hey.
- Hey.
Come to bed.
In five minutes.
You know, she pleaded with me.
When it started in the streets
nine months ago...
...she begged for us to leave.
She packed our bags, and I said:
"You know what?
You know, just a little bit longer."
(SIGHS)
And all I was thinking was:
"Stay..
This is good for me.
Stay.
Show Newsom you got the balls."
I can't believe I put
Kathy in this position.
I think we're gonna die here.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JANUARY 27, 1980
NICHOLLS: "Iran is 100 percent
not in a prerevolutionary state."
CIA brief, November 1st, 1979.
Can't be right all the time.
Kevin.
When'd you get back?
NICHOLLS:
The shah escaped in a 747...
...so laden with gold bars,
it nearly didn't make it off the runway.
But you kept busy.
Ferrying out the torture apparatus
of our friend's fallen dictatorship.
It's getting worse.
Everyone who lands at Mehrabad
now fills in one of these.
That slip makes a copy to the one underneath.
Passenger keeps yellow, airport keeps white.
When you leave, they match them up...
...to verify you came into the country
when you say you did.
So if they look, they'll see I didn't come
into the country with six people.
If they look.
When you land, you should go straight to the
Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance...
...to kiss the ring.
Get on record as having applied
for a film permit.
If they catch you later, at least they'll
be confused while they're torturing you.
IRANIAN CONSULATE - TURKEY
What will be the purpose
of your visit to Iran?
Uh, film production. Business.
Why didn't you get your visa in Canada?
I would've loved to, except my boss
didn't send a telex till I got here.
Guy had an intelligent thought in his head,
it would die of loneliness.
The Times and AP found out six escaped.
They know who they are and they know
they're hiding out with the Canadians.
Somebody with one of the families talked.
Mother of God.
Yeah, I just put Vance on a plane
to take the editors to Le Cirque.
He thinks he can
get them to sit on it, for now.
Your guy better get them...
...and get the hell out.
WOMAN: (OVER PA) The captain has informed
us that we have entered Iranian airspace.
We'll be coming through to collect
any remaining alcoholic beverages.
(MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER PA)
(CHATTERING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(HORNS HONKING)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE NEARBY)
This film crew is just yourself?
No, we have six more from Canada
meeting us today.
You like to film at the bazaar?
The bazaar, maybe the palace.
Landmark sites.
I see.
The exotic Orient.
Snake charmers, flying carpets.
You came to us at a complicated time.
Before the revolution, 40 percent of the movie
theaters in Tehran were showing pornography.
I understand.
The function of this
office is purification...
...as well as promotion for the arts.
I'll review this for the minister.
Okay. Thank you.
(BOTH SPEAK IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(BALL BOUNCING)
Lester, you're working late.
Till the dawn's early light.
You got stamina, Lester. I wanna be you.
Well, I'm 150 years old,
so you wouldn't be me for long.
TONY: Mr. Ambassador.
- Ken Taylor.
Thank you for what you're doing.
I was expecting more of a G-man look.
I think you're thinking of the FBI, sir.
Ah. This way.
- These are blank, you know. Stamps...
- Yeah, I'll take care of this.
TAYLOR:
How long?
A day, prep their covers.
Two if they need it.
And you'll fly out with them?
Yeah.
There's something you should know.
We think our housekeeper
has figured out who they are.
We don't know if we can trust her,
so sooner is better.
Hi.
My name's Kevin Harkins...
...and I'm gonna get you home.
These are the screenplays
for your cover identities.
(SCOFFS)
It's theater of the absurd.
- What are our chances?
- Your chances are good.
"Good? Well, what's the number value
of "good"?
Thirty percent chance
of being publicly executed?
Can you tell me what the objection was
to normal cover identities?
There are no Canadians in the country
for normal reasons.
- They'll sniff us out regardless.
LIJEK: The Swedish Consul?
They accused him of being an American
at the airport. They held him for an hour.
We can't hold up under that. We don't
know what the hell movie people do.
That's why I'm here.
I'm gonna help you. I'll be with you
the whole way. This is what I do.
Have you gotten people out
this way before?
This would be a first.
Do you know that every day they catch
another friend of the shah at the airport?
Kangaroo trials and then firing squads...
...just for having American names
in their phone books.
You've been here an hour.
And you're asking us to trust you
with our lives, Mr...?
Harkins.
That's your real name?
No.
I know there are risks involved.
Serious risks.
But it is time to go.
We've got orders to close the embassy and go back.
There's nowhere for them to stay.
We will never make it through
immigration at the airport. I'm serious.
No, no, no, this is what, the part when we
say this is so crazy it might actually work?
Joe, I saw it in Burma.
They get people out.
Snitches in banana republics? They get
them over the border after the coup.
That's your opinion, Joe.
You know, his opinion got us out
in the first place.
If we go out there with fake passports,
we are spies, period. That's execution.
- You got a problem lying, Joe?
- Point is, we can't stay here.
If we get caught, you and Pat go on trial
for harboring the enemy, you know that?
Pat and I have discussed it.
It's the risk we took.
STAFFORD: That man out there
has got bad cards and he is going to lose.
And if he loses, it's our lives.
And his life too.
ANDERS:
Look, we don't have any alternatives.
We gotta go.
(CLEARS THROAT)
TONY: These cover identities were created
specifically for each one of you.
What you need to do is memorize
everything that's inside.
Who you are, what you are,
where you've been. Complete bio.
And then add to that.
Where do you vacation? What are your
allergies? Who'd you have an affair with?
The only way this works...
...is if you believe that you're these
people so much that you dream like them.
Get started tonight.
I'll be back tomorrow.
We'll get going. Good luck.
SCHATZ:
Well, my guy kind of sucks.
KATHY:
What's your name?
Mike McEwan, eh? Heh.
LIJEK:
That was convincing.
CORA:
Kathy, what's your name?
(CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER SPEAKERS)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANNOUNCER: (ON TV) The Love Boat
will be seen 15 minutes from now.
The State Department insisted today
that the crisis in Afghanistan...
...will not divert the attention of the United
States from the plight of the hostages.
- -is perceived to be if not impotent,
then at least reluctant...
Now the United States finds itself in such
bitter confrontation with the Soviet Union...
...over that country's invasion
of Afghanistan...
The United States
is now moving toward a decision...
...to boycott the Summer Olympics
in Moscow...
Bad news, bad news.
Even when it's good news, it's bad news.
John Wayne's in the ground six months,
this is what's left of America.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
TONY: "The Minister of Culture and Guidance
has approved your location scout.
He will send his representative to meet
you and your crew...
...at the Khayyam entrance
to the Grand Bazaar tomorrow at 3 p.m."
They called your bluff.
- Maybe they're cooperating.
- Absolutely not.
Seven Americans walking the bazaar
is asking for a riot. It's the hive.
Seven Canadians, Jack.
Never give them multiple shots at a cover.
Are they even ready?
They're getting there.
There's no prize for "Most improved."
I don't have a choice.
We say no, they show up at the residence...
...and drag everyone out.
You think their covers are gonna hold up...
...when they're getting their fingernails
pulled out?
(PEOPLE CHATTERING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
You want us to go to the Grand Bazaar
at 3:00 in the afternoon?
You said a day to learn our covers,
then straight to the airport.
They suspect something?
What I know is,
we need to pretend to be a movie crew.
We go to the bazaar today,
we fly out from the airport tomorrow.
(LIJEK SCOFFS)
We won't do it.
He told them that there were six of us.
So they're expecting six.
It would be suspicious
not to show up at this point.
What else do we have to do, all right?
STAFFORD: He's about to show them
the only cards that we're holding...
...which is that they don't know we're here!
- That's the ball game, okay?
Look, we don't have any other choice!
Who says that we'll know our covers
well enough?
We're not in the CIA.
It's suicide.
I'm asking you to trust me.
I don't trust you.
This is the game, Joe.
What world are you living in?
The one where they're hanging people
from construction cranes, Bob.
It's too dangerous.
I won't bring my wife into the bazaar.
ANDERS:
Joe?
(LIJEK SIGHS)
So we'll see you at 2.
CORA: So don't be recognizable
but look exactly like your passport photo.
I haven't been this nervous
since our wedding.
Only this isn't a huge mistake, hopefully.
(LIJEK LAUGHS)
PAT:
Sorry. Okay.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
(FOOTSTEPS)
Who was that?
- Mark?
- Yeah?
I'm scared.
It's okay.
(BARKING AND HOWLING)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Where are they?
In the kitchen.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
This is what I do. I get people out.
And I've never left anyone behind.
I wish I could believe you, Mr. Harkins.
My name is Tony Mendez.
I'm from New York.
My father worked construction.
My mother teaches elementary school.
I have a wife and a 10-year-old son.
You play along with me today,
I promise you, I will get you out tomorrow.
Fuck.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER PA)
(DEMONSTRATORS SHOUTING
IN DISTANCE)
(CROWD CHANTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Shit.
Hang on.
You all right?
Okay. Tell me who you are.
Mike McEwan, cameraman.
Robert Baker, director.
Timothy Harris, location manager.
Mary Ann Boyd, screenwriter.
Rachel Dewart, production designer.
Sean Bissett, associate producer.
All right. Let's go make a movie.
(REZA SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Welcome, welcome.
My name is Reza Bolhani.
- Kevin Harkins. I'm the producer.
- Nice to meet you.
This is Mike McEwan, our cameraman.
This is Tim.
This is Mary, our screenwriter.
And this is our director, Bob Baker.
- You are the director?
- Yes.
Is this film a foreign-bride film?
Sorry?
A film where a foreign
bride comes to Iran...
...but she doesn't understand the language
or the customs...
...and there is misunderstandings
and laughs.
Oh, no.
(SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
REZA: The bazaar in Tehran
is one of the largest in the world.
This bazaar has been on this spot
for over 8000 years.
You can find many items
such as paper, spices...
...precious metals, all right here.
Right this way, please.
(REZA SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
This way.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
(REZA SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
TONY: Uh, Mike?
SCHATZ: Yeah.
If I was to say you're looking through the wrong
end of that viewfinder, would I be right?
Yup.
REZA:
Just a little further.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(VEHICLE APPROACHING)
REZA:
Please wait here. Let's stay together.
(SHOPKEEPER & REZA SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
He wants the photograph you took.
It's okay, it's her job to take photographs.
She's the production designer.
He says he did not give you permission
to take a photograph of his store.
That's okay. You can
tell him he can have it.
Please, please, just take the photograph.
(IN FARSI) Peace be upon you.
SAHAR: (IN FARSI)
And upon you, sir. Welcome.
I hope you are well.
Thank you very much. How are you?
I'm very well. What's your name?
Sahar.
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
He's saying that the shah killed his son
with an American gun.
No, no, no! No! Canada!
Canada!
I would like to suggest
that we end our visit.
(ALL SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
You know, sister...
...those who are with him, Rasool of Allah,
we are tender among ourselves.
But stern against the Kufar.
As God wills it.
But those who sit silently have sinned.
How else may I help, sir?
No, no, just one thing.
How long have they been here?
Pardon?
The guests of the Ambassador.
The guests of the Ambassador.
How long have they been here?
They arrived two days ago.
Forgive my intrusion, one must be vigilant.
Everyone in this house is a friend of Iran.
(KHALKALI SPEAKS IN FARSI)
(SIGHS)
(CHATTERING)
TAYLOR:
How'd it go?
What about tomorrow?
Tomorrow they'll be ready.
NEWSCASTER: (ON TV)
For Kennedy, a stunning turnaround...
...one week after humiliation in Illinois.
KENNEDY:
I love New York.
(CROWD LAUGHING ON TV)
And I love Connecticut too.
NEWSCASTER:
How did he win here? Well, he had help.
CARTER: I'm responsible for anything
that goes wrong in this government.
A man in Scranton is placing a flag
in his lawn for every day of captivity.
When he runs out of lawn,
Kennedy wins the primary.
The six with the Canadians
are coming out.
Who signed off on this?
- You. Where was your passport issued?
- Vancouver.
- Where were you born?
- Toronto.
"Torono." Canadians don't pronounce the T.
Some Komiteh guard
is actually gonna know that?
If you're detained for questioning, they
will bring in someone who knows that. Yes.
Mary, who were the last three
prime ministers of Canada?
Trudeau, Pearson and Diefenbaker.
- What's your father's name?
- Howard.
- What's his occupation?
CORA: Fisherman.
TONY: Where were you born?
- Halifax, Nova Scotia.
What's your date of birth?
February 21st, 1952.
- Good. What's your job on the movie?
STAFFORD: Producer.
TONY: Associate. Last movie you produced?
- High and Dry.
- Who paid for that?
- CFDC.
What's your middle name?
What's your middle name?
- Leon?
- Shoot him. He's an American spy.
Look, they're gonna try to break you, okay?
By trying to get you agitated.
You have to know your rsum
back to front.
You really believe your little story's gonna make
a difference when there's a gun to our heads?
I think my story's the only thing
between you and a gun to your head.
Okay.
Hey, they made it through
the location scout.
(LIGHTER CLICKING)
You have a call.
What is it?
Go to black on green.
Go.
- It all just changed.
- What?
- They're calling the game. You gotta come back.
- What?
Joint Chiefs are planning
a military rescue of the hostages.
Delta Force has started training
to storm the grounds.
So if the six of them...
...are brought down there,
they won't be held for long.
Fuck. Goddamn it. I never would have exposed
them if I wasn't authorized to get them out.
- It's over, Tony.
- If they stay here, they will be taken.
- Probably not alive.
- Listen to me. The thinking has changed.
Six Americans get pulled out of a
Canadian diplomat's house and executed...
...it's a world outrage.
Six Americans get caught playing
movie make-believe...
...with the CIA at the
airport and executed?
It's a national embarrassment.
They are calling the operation.
We're responsible for these people.
What we are is required to follow orders.
I'm sorry.
Fuck!
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
Come in.
Ready to try again.
You're ready. You worked hard.
Probably the best thing to do for you
right now would be...
...just to relax.
Okay.
You did good.
Thanks.
(LED ZEPPELIN'S
"WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS" PLAYING)
Scorched-earth policy tonight.
(CHUCKLING)
Nothing gets left.
So you know.
ExtAff wants you to burn the passports
before you leave.
If we tell them now, they'll panic.
I think it's best if you just don't show.
It was always a fucked mission.
You came closer than anybody else.
If it keeps on rainin'
Levee's goin' to break
When the levee breaks
I'll have no place to stay
(ANDERS LAUGHING)
(SIGHS)
(INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE)
(MAN CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER PA)
(PHONE CLATTERS)
Ahem. It's off.
They want us to pack up the office.
This can wait. Let's go get a drink.
He's late.
(PHONE RINGS)
O'Donnell.
TONY:
Somebody's responsible...
...when things happen, Jack.
I'm responsible.
- I'm taking them through.
- Tony?
Alan. Alan. We need to confirm those
seven tickets out of Tehran on Swissair.
- N.E. shut that down.
- I say it's back on.
- I can't do it. It's backstopped.
- Hey, wait a minute.
What the hell you talking about, backstopped?
What the hell's that mean?
Carter's gotta say yes for us
to get the tickets.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
It's time to go.
All right.
- Where's Engell?
- He's in a meeting.
- Pull him out.
- Uh...
Pull him out!
LIJEK:
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
TONY: Thank you.
TAYLOR: See you soon.
- Sahar's on a bus.
TONY: Great.
Sahar will be fine.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You two leave right now, right?
- We'll be on a train in half an hour.
TONY:
Good.
ENGELL:
N.E. said no.
This is not a long leasher, and it never
has been, and you don't decide if it goes!
It is going!
Jack, you are this close.
Am I? Am I really that close?
You are this goddamn close to the line
with me.
I am not gonna leave him at the airport
with six people and his dick in his hand.
You tell the director to call the White House.
Do your fucking job!
Get to your plane, Claude.
(SPEAKS IN FRENCH)
First time anyone's gonna ask you
a question is at the first checkpoint.
The first checkpoint is just
to get a look at your passports.
Passports came straight from Ottawa
last week. They're clean.
O'DONNELL:
Find the White House chief of staff.
How would I find him?
We're a fucking spy agency! Find him!
The second checkpoint is immigration.
You're each gonna hand them one of these.
It says that you landed in the country
two days ago.
They'll look for the matching white one,
which doesn't exist.
You'll say you don't know what happened.
And if you believe they
lost the white slip...
...they'll believe it too.
Jordan's in the West Wing.
He's not taking calls.
Where are his kids?
MALI NOV:
What?
Where do his kids go to school?
Thank you, thank you.
Pace Academy, Buckhead, Georgia.
(LINE BUZZES)
White House.
Yes, this is Mr. Murphy from Pace Academy
calling for Mr. Jordan.
Yeah, I'm afraid it is an emergency.
Hold for the chief of staff's office.
TONY:
The third checkpoint is the trap.
It's manned by the Revolutionary Guard.
Most of them were educated
in the U.S. or Europe.
And all of whom are looking for Americans.
Hello?
O'DONNELL: Jack O'Donnell, from C. I.
- Wait, wait, who?
Tehran Houseguest operation is ready now.
We don't have the president's go-ahead.
They are going to be captured.
David, pick up!
(SQUAWKS)
TONY:
Zurich. It's under Harkins.
I'm sorry, sir, I don't seem
to have these reservations.
Telex on flash.
Would you mind checking again, please?
Copy D.S. Confirm the tickets! Go!
My apologies. It just came through.
Swissair says they picked up the tickets.
Get the L.A. office,
tell them to be ready in case they call.
We told them to shut that down.
(WOMAN SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANDERS:
There you go.
Not here.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(PANTING)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(OFFICER SPEAKS
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
When did you come to Iran?
Two days ago.
What was the purpose of your visit?
We are looking for locations for a film.
We have a...
Oh, yeah. I've got a letter
from the Ministry of Culture.
If you want to take a look at that.
All right?
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANDERS: Ahem.
- You can go.
(LINE RINGING)
(RINGING)
Come on, come on.
WOMAN: (OVER PA) Swissair Flight 363
is now boarding Rows 18 to 35.
(GUARDS SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
We're going to...
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
We're together, yes.
The six of us, we're from Canada.
Purser's telling Swissair
they're not on the plane.
They should have boarded already.
Still no answer in L.A.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
Sir.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
STAFFORD: (IN FARSI) Yes, it's a fantasy
story about a war in another world.
Here you can see our notices.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
STAFFORD:
Of course I speak Farsi.
I wish to make a film in Iran.
(STAFFORD SPEAKING IN FARSI)
CORA:
No, I'm the writer.
Kevin, give me the storyboards.
(IN FARSI) These are the drawings that show
what we will film for the movie.
Alien villains have taken
over the hero's planet.
They fight for their families and
take back the city.
The villains know he is the chosen one,
so they kidnap his son in the spice market.
So he and his wife storm the castle.
The people... hold that... the
people are inspired to join him.
They are farmers, but
they learn to fight.
(IMITATES AIRCRAFT FLYING
AND WEAPONS FIRING)
They shoot weapons at their enemies.
(IMITATES EXPLOSION)
And the king of the aliens is destroyed
when the people find their courage.
You don't go until we verify.
Sir, you can call our office.
They'll verify.
(GUARD SPEAKS IN FARSI)
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(ACTORS GRUNTING)
- It'd go all the way throughout the '30s.
MAN: We're shooting right now.
- We're just going to the Producers Building.
- Yeah, I understand. We're shooting right now.
(PHONE RINGING)
(RINGING CONTINUES)
(LINE RINGING)
WOMAN: (OVER PA) Swissair announces
final boarding for Flight 363 to Zurich.
(GRUNTING)
WOMAN:
Reset! We're back to one.
MAN 1: All right, reset.
MAN 2: We're going again!
- We're just right at the Producers...
- Right away, everyone! And rolling!
- We're going to the Producers Building.
- We're rolling.
(ACTORS GRUNTING)
(RINGING)
(LINE RINGING)
(GRUNTING CONTINUES)
Sorry, pal. We're gonna be in the movie.
Call my agent.
Sir!
(LINE RINGING)
(RINGING)
Studio Six Productions.
May I speak to a Mr. Kevin Harkins?
I'm sorry, Mr. Harkins is out of country
on a location scout. May I take a message?
(KHALKALI SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Doors are closing for Flight 363 to Zurich.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
We can go.
You keep these. It's a gift.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(IMITATES AIRCRAFT FLYING)
WOMAN:
Miss.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(RINGING)
(SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(ENGINE STALLING)
(ENGINE REVS)
(GUARD SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(GUARDS SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SEATBELT CLICKS)
(WOMAN SCREAMS)
(ALARMS BLARING)
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO)
Swissair 363, clearance for taxi?
Swissair 363,
you are number two for departure.
PILOT: (OVER PA) Ladies and gentlemen, from the
ight deck, we are number two for takeoff.
(ALARMS BLARING)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(GUARDS SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Swissair 363, you are cleared for takeoff.
Swissair 363, cleared for takeoff.
(GUARDS SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(DOOR THUDS THEN GUARDS SHOUTING)
We got wheels up.
Wait.
(BELL DINGS)
STEWARDESS: Ladies and gentlemen,
it is our pleasure to announce...
...that alcoholic beverages are now available
as we have cleared Iranian airspace.
(LAUGHING)
(MOUTHS) I love you.
(LAUGHING)
They're clear. Ha-ha-ha!
Yes! Yes!
LAMONT: Yeah!
MALINOV: Yes!
LAMONT:
Yeah, man.
They're out!
- They're out! They're out!
- We got them out!
(LAUGHING)
They're out!
(LAUGHING)
(STAFF APPLAUDING)
MALINOV:
Yes!
Great work, boys.
JOHN:
We did it!
(LAUGHING)
(GUARD SPEAKING IN ARABIC)
(IN ARABIC)
You are admitted to the Republic of Iraq.
LESTER:
We made history tonight.
History starts out as farce
and ends up as tragedy.
Quote's the other way around.
- Yeah, who said it?
- Marx.
Groucho said that?
(JOHN LAUGHS)
LAMONT: Call the Times, nail
it to the goddamn door.
CIA are the good guys.
The Canadians are the good guys.
LAMONT:
Yeah, we're not greedy. Them too.
Only. Canada takes the credit,
or they retaliate against the hostages.
Great Satan wasn't involved.
No CIA.
LAMONT:
Is that right, Jack?
Involved in what?
We were as surprised as anybody.
Thank you, Canada.
MacDONALD: (ON TV)
We knew that each day they stayed there...
...the danger was becoming greater.
We had been looking for
a solution to have them
leave the country during
the past three months.
Day 87, and finally a sliver
of really good news.
The U.S. Department of State
hereby honors Joe Stafford...
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
...Kathy Stafford...
...Mark Lijek...
We Americans will be forever grateful to
our great friend and ally to the north...
...for the protection and the safe passage
provided for our diplomats.
UNDERSECRETARY:
Bob Anders.
GHOTBZADEH:
Here, or anywhere in the world...
...Canada will pay...
...for this violation
of the sovereignty of Iran.
WOMAN: Thank you to Pat and Ken Taylor
and the great nation of Canada.
(CROWD CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
LESTER: So I'm sitting in Jerry's
this morning, I'm having breakfast.
Waitress comes over to me,
she's waving a newspaper, and she says:
"You see what those Canadians pulled off?
Why can't we do something like that?"
And I said to her... Do
you know what I said?
No, what?
"Argo fuck yourself."
(BOTH LAUGHING)
All set.
Thanks a lot.
Ha!
Heh. And I left my autograph book at home.
(O'DONNELL SIGHS)
His Eminence called me.
He wants to see you.
Probably wants to fire me himself.
He wants to give you the Intelligence Star.
You're getting the highest
award of merit...
...of the Clandestine Services
of these United States.
Ceremony's on the 14th.
If they push it a week, I can bring Ian.
That's his winter break.
The op was classified,
so the ceremony's classified.
He can't know about it.
Nobody can know about it.
So they're just gonna give me an award
and then they're gonna take it back.
That's right.
If we wanted applause,
we would've joined the circus.
- I thought we did.
- Ha.
Carter said you were a great American.
Great American what?
O'DONNELL:
He didn't say.
What happened to your picture?
It's in turnaround.
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
Can I come in?
The Iran Hostage Crisis ended
on January 20, 1981, when all
remaining hostages were released.
They spent 444 days in captivity.
The involvement of the C.l.A.
complemented efforts of
the Canadian embassy in freeing
the six held in Tehran.
To this day, this story
stands as an enduring model
for international cooperation
between governments.
All of the Houseguests returned to the U.S.
Foreign Service after their ordeal in Iran.
Oscar-winning makeup artist John Chambers was
awarded the C.I.A.'s Intelligence Medal, its
highest civilian honor. He and Mendez remained
friends until Chambers' death in 2001.
Tony Mendez's Intelligence Star
was returned to him in 1997,
when the Argo operation was
declassified by President Clinton.
He lives in rural Maryland with his family.
CARTER: They went in, as you know, under the
guise of creating a motion-picture film.
But that it had a very high possibility
of failure.
And after it was successful, of course...
...it was a great temptation
to reveal all the stories...
...so maybe I could take a little bit
of credit for it, since I was president...
...but we had to keep it secret.
Tony Mendez has gone down in CIA history...
...after his retirement...
...as one of the 50 most important
CIA operatives of all time.
Eventually we got every hostage
back home, safe and sound...
...and we upheld the integrity of our
country, and we did it peacefully.
(English - US - SDH)
This is the Persian empire...
...known today as Iran.
For 2500 years, this land was ruled
by a series of kings...
...known as shahs.
In 1950, the people of Iran elected
Mohammad Mosaddegh...
...a secular democrat, as prime minister.
He nationalized British and U.S.
petroleum holdings...
...returning Iran's oil to its people.
But in 1953...
...the U.S. and Great Britain engineered
a coup d'tat that deposed Mosaddegh...
...and installed Reza Pahlavi as shah.
The young shah was known
for opulence and excess.
His wife was rumored to bathe in milk...
...while the shah had his lunches
flown in by Concorde from Paris.
The people starved.
The shah kept power through his ruthless
internal police:
The SAVAK.
An era of torture and fear began.
He then began a campaign
to westernize Iran...
...enraging a mostly traditional Shiite
population.
In 1979, the people of Iran
overthrew the shah.
The exiled cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini,
returned to rule Iran.
It descended into score-settling,
death squads and chaos.
(CROWD SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
Dying of cancer,
the shah was given asylum in the U. S.
The Iranian people took to the streets
outside the U.S. embassy...
...demanding that the shah be returned...
...tried...
...and hanged.
Based on a true story.
U.S. Embassy, Iran - November 4, 1979
(CROWD CHANTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
The carnival's a little bigger today, huh?
Windows are supposed to be
bulletproof, right?
Well, they've never been tested.
CORA: You just need to finish
filling out this section here.
We can process your visa.
(CHANTING CONTINUES OUTSIDE)
(MEN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER RADIO)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(CHANTING CONTINUES)
We need some security.
Yes, it's your responsibility.
They're over the walls.
We should all split.
I'm gonna close up my office.
(SHOUTING AND CHANTING)
ANN:
Oh, my God.
Marines to Number One. Fall back.
- Can anyone hear me? We need help.
- I need police right now. Right now, goddamn it!
- Jesus.
CORA: Can anybody hear me?
SCOTT:
There was a breach.
Just burn everything! Burn it now!
All right, burn everything!
All the files, file cabinet, safe.
Let's get a cart over here. Burn it all.
Come on.
DAUGHERTY: Burn everything!
Burn the classifieds! Everything!
GOLACINSKI: Don't fucking shoot anybody.
You don't wanna be the son of a bitch
who started a war.
They need an hour to burn the classified.
I need you to hold.
If you shoot one person, they're gonna kill
every single one of us in here.
I'm telling you,
if we're going to go, we need to go now.
- Okay, we need to make a decision...
- Can we wait until the Iranian police come?
No, the police aren't coming.
It's been 45 minutes.
- How do you know?
- The police have abandoned their posts.
If the police are not coming,
then the army's gonna come.
The prime minister won't let
the embassy be taken over.
The prime minister may
come tomorrow, but the
Komiteh are here today.
So we have to evacuate.
Look at me. No one is coming.
(ALL CLAMORING)
AHERN: Get the desk drawers. Everything.
Don't sort it.
Get it down to the incinerator
in the vault! Go, now!
Tear gas as a last resort only.
(OVER RADIO) I repeat: only
if your life is under threat.
(MUFFLED CHATTERING)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
In here, we are in America right now.
Outside, we are in Iran.
STAFFORD: It's on American soil...
- I'm not going out into that.
CORA:
They're not safe here.
If they get caught applying for visas
to the U.S.?
Mark, we are in the only building
with direct access to the street.
- If we're going to go, then we need to go now.
- Yeah, I'm in.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, let's go.
(ALL CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
- I'm going outside.
- Why?
To reason with them.
(INCINERATOR WHIRRING)
Open the door!
Open the fucking door!
You said you wanted to see the world,
right, Tom?
GOLACINSKI:
Let me in! Let me in!
(CROWD SHOUTING AND CHANTING)
DAUGHERTY:
Burn it all. Come on.
Get the safe, get the filing cabinets,
get it all.
(FOOTSTEPS)
ANDERS: All four drawers,
I want them shredded right now.
STAFFORD:
Not gonna shred fast enough.
ANDERS:
Grab the visa plates!
All four! And anything else
you see out there.
When in doubt, just shred it!
We got 10 minutes!
Let's go, let's go, let's go! Everything!
(RATTLES THEN STOPS)
Get the shredder.
ANN:
There are no police.
ANDERS:
Jesus.
STAFFORD: (IN FARSI)
Leave the building, go now.
Iranians go first.
Now, hurry!
(CROWD SHOUTING)
Who has made this?!
It's done. They're in.
(CHATTERING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Okay, come on.
We gotta get off the streets.
This way. Up here to the left.
- These fucks hit us, we can't hit them back?
- Mosaddegh, we did it to them first.
These fucks hit us,
we can't hit them back?
Mosaddegh, we did it to them first.
You think the Soviets would put up with this shit?
They'd invade. STATE DEPARTMENT - 7TH FLOOR
You think the Soviets would put up
with this shit? They'd invade.
We helped the guy torture
and de-ball an entire population.
- How many were there?
- At least 50. We're not sure.
- Schafer!
GENCO: You still haven't found Schafer?
No, I was screaming his name
because I was fucking him.
CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, TEHRAN
VANCE: Come in.
CANADIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, TEHRAN
BATES:
It's confirmed, sir. Six escaped.
VANCE: I was told five.
BATES: No, sir, apparently it's six.
VANCE: What happened?
- Not clear. We know they escaped.
VANCE: What happened? -Not clear. We know they escaped.
SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE
VANCE: Where are they? -The
Canadian ambassador's house.
VANCE: Where are they?
- The Canadian ambassadors house.
- Do they stay put? Are we attempting rescue?
- Hold for the Secretary of State.
Yes. ls White House joining?
They claim the embassy
was a den of espionage.
We wish it was.
We wish it was.
CI's got three people over
there, they don't see a
revolution coming?
WHITE HOUSE, CHIEF OF STAFF'S OFFICE
- Call it something other than intelligence.
- Hold for the chief of staff.
- Hodding.
- I'll call him back.
BUTLER: They're sticking.
No release till we expel the shah.
- Put him on a plane, then. Fuck him.
- He's half-dead and he's in chemo.
We took him in. He's ours now.
Great, so we'll take in any prick
as long as he's got cancer?
JORDAN:
No, just the pricks on our side.
So all our other pricks on their prick thrones
know when they get thrown out on a rail...
...they won't get their fucking spleens
taken out by some camel vet in Sinai.
What about the six
who are with the Canadians?
We've got 60 in the embassy with guns
to their heads right now.
The whole world is watching the embassy.
They're safer than the six on the street.
Banisadr's saying it'll be over
in 24 hours.
We leave the six where they are.
I'll go brief the president.
All right, let's get to it.
KOPPEL: So far official comments about the
incident have been a model of restraint.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard
has rounded up a gang of terrorists...
...blamed for one murder of a half-dozen
followers of Ayatollah Khomeini.
It says security at Khomeini's home
now has been tightened.
This, by the way, is the 69th day that the
American hostages have been held in Tehran.
There is no change reported
in the hostage situation.
(PHONE RINGING)
In this country, George Meany died
last night. He was 85 years old.
Yeah.
Yes.
What?
WALLACE: (ON RADIO)
To begin with, of course...
...we wanted to learn about the hostages
held in the American embassy compound.
REYNOLDS: They may not understand what
their ordeal means to their countrymen.
But this nation, their nation, is outraged.
And we cannot really know what it is like
inside the prison that was once our embassy.
And we cannot really know what
it is like inside the prison
that was once our embassy.
C.I.A. HEADQUARTERS, VIRGINIA
CARTER: (ON TV) Actions of Iran
have shocked the civilized world.
Our embassy has been seized...
...and more than 60 American citizens
continue to be held as hostages.
PAULEY: The situation in Iran this morning
is unchanged in regard to the hostages.
NBC's situation in Iran has changed,
however.
(PAULEY SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
ON TV)
- Is he back there?
- Office.
TONY:
What happened?
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.
- Why didn't we get them 10 weeks ago?
- Too dangerous.
You got Revolutionary Guards going
door-to-door like Jehovah's Witnesses.
Half of them think that Khomeini's been
too lenient on the ones in the embassy.
What about the White House?
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.
- Who else knows?
- Just the families.
Meanwhile, some genius in our embassy
was keeping a mug book...
...on everybody who worked there.
- Jesus Christ.
O'DONNELL: We think it got shredded
before they got in.
But now the bastards are using sweatshop
kids to reassemble the shreds.
And once they reassemble that book
they'll know six Americans got out.
And they'll know what they look like.
Standing room only
for beheadings in the square.
- Who's handling?
- State is coordinating in-house.
State?
- They don't do exfils.
- They do now.
They want to run it by us,
strictly as consultants.
Engell says it's a lose-lose.
These people die, they die badly. Publicly.
State wants the blame,
we'll give it to them.
What does he want me here for?
So he can tell State
he ran it by his best exfil guy.
ENGELL:
Okay.
This is Bob Pender from State O.S.
He's been talking to Morgan at ExtAff.
- Bob?
- Thank you.
All right.
Mark and Cora Lijek.
Twenty-nine and 25. He's a consular
officer, she's an assistant.
Newlyweds. They only just got there
a couple months ago.
No language skills or in-country knowledge.
Henry Lee Schatz.
Agricultural attach from Idaho.
A bit of an oddball, apparently.
He was there to sell
U.S. tractors to Iranian agro.
Joe Stafford. Late 20s.
He's smart and a climber.
Speaks Farsi.
He arranged the hire of his wife, Kathy.
Embassy was understaffed,
so the faculty wives were the typing pool.
And Bob Anders. Senior consular officer...
...oldest of the group
and most likely to be group leader.
They're in hiding at the Canadian
ambassador's residence.
Fortunately, we do not believe the Iranians
are aware the six have escaped.
So, what we like for this are bicycles.
We've identified back roads
from the Shemiran district.
A couple of rat lines
through the mountains...
...to the crossing near Tabriz.
Cars are off the table
because of the roadblocks.
We wait till the weather clears up...
...then deliver the six bikes, provide them
with maps to the Turkish border.
PENDER: We have intelligence
they can ride bicycles.
Or we're prepared to send in
somebody to teach them.
Or you could just send in training wheels
and meet them at the border with Gatorade.
O'DONNELL:
Tony.
It's 300 miles to the Turkish border.
They'd need a support team
following them with a tire pump.
ENGELL:
We were just asked to sharpshoot this.
State is handling the op.
I'm sorry, who is this?
Tony's an exfil spesh. He got a lot
of the shah's people out after the fall.
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
afford to wait around till
spring so it's nice enough
to take a bike ride.
The only way out of that city is the airport.
Build new cover identities for them...
...you send in a Moses,
he takes them out on a commercial flight.
- We've explored those options. ENGELL:
They'll never get past airport control.
- Komiteh own the place.
BATES: They could pose as reporters.
- The government issued 70-something...
- Seventy-four.
...visas for American journalists.
The Revolutionary Guards
keep them on 74 leashes.
If they're caught with
fake journalist creds,
it's Peter Jennings' head
in a noose in an hour.
North American accents
gives us limited options.
So we get the Canadians
to issue them passports.
What about English teachers
at the international school?
It's a good idea, but that school's been
closed for eight months.
BATES:
Okay, so how about the do-gooders?
Six Canadians have been
over there inspecting
crops, making sure the
kids get enough to eat.
We give them creds,
makes them look like Ag NGOs.
It's a Feed the Kids thing. Okay?
Those kids are black.
Those are African kids.
- We get ethnically appropriate kids.
LAMONT: Are there starving kids in Iran?
I'm sure there's some skinny kids
in Iran, so...
LAMONT: What about missionaries?
- A logo with seeds. Call it "Seeds of Hope."
Hold on.
Sir, do you have this newspaper in front
of you? Would you mind taking a look at it?
What's in this picture?
- Tehran.
TONY: Right. What's on the ground?
- Snow.
TONY: Right.
So, what crops are the do-gooders
inspecting under Frosty?
Sir, exfils are like abortions.
You don't wanna need one...
...but when you do, you
don't do it yourself.
You have a better plan?
No, sir.
REYNOLDS: (ON RADIO) Whatever
the conicting signals from Iran today...
...and for that matter, every day...
...about whether the hostages will
or will not be tried as spies...
...the government of the United States
has not deviated from its basic demand:
The hostages must be freed.
...claims to defend human rights,
it not only does not defend them...
...it violates them for all nations.
We demand extradition...
We demand extradition...
...of a man who, for more
than 37 years, with the
United States' support...
U.S. EMBASSY, TEHRAN
...of a man who, for more than 37 years,
with the United States' support...
...has killed months-old babies
in the arms of their mothers.
MAN 1: He said if the Americans try
military force to rescue the hostages...
...the students will kill them all
and blow up the embassy.
MAN 2: Americans were outraged at Iran
and anyone Iranian.
MAN 3: Before that decision was taken,
there was a demonstration in Houston.
An Iranian flag was burned...
...when anti-Iranian demonstrators
gathered near the Iranian consulate.
MAN 4: ... also is what led to a decision
to scrutinize the visas of Iranians...
They knew exactly what was going to happen.
They knew.
But I don't understand
what they should do now.
Send him back,
just to be tortured and killed?
I don't think that justice
is the worst thing.
When did people first tell you that torture
was going on in Iran?
They would never come to me and say,
"Well, sir, we have tortured this fellow. "
WALLACE: (ON TV) President Sadat of Egypt,
he calls you, Imam...
Forgive me, his words, not mine.
...a lunatic.
Why didn't he have a choice?
Why do you think he didn't have a choice?
TAYLOR: He would've been
referred to as a barbarian.
ANDERS: That's why they're saying
that their current regime...
The shah did more for women's rights...
TAYLOR: I think you'd better...
Please, everyone, get into the crawlspace.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)
NEWSCASTER 1: (ON TV) At one point,
the mob cornered one of the Iranians.
When he tried to protect himself,
this is what happened.
DEMONSTRATOR:
Just hit him again!
We're not gonna take it any more!
We're sick of it!
America!
MAN: Even in our little community here, I mean,
people are drawn up tight, they're tense.
They shouldn't even let those students
in that embassy there.
Just shoot a couple of them,
show them we mean business.
NEWSCASTER 2: Men who served in Vietnam
for what they believed was right are angry.
I'm mad as hell.
I'm like the guy screaming on that movie
program in Network, you know? I've had it.
And if need be, I'll bear arms again.
CRONKITE: And that's the way it is
Wednesday, January 16th, 1980.
The 74th day of captivity
for 50 Americans in Iran.
(RINGING)
- Hello?
TONY: (OVER PHONE) Buddy man.
IAN:
I'll get Mom.
I'm looking for you.
Did you do your homework tonight?
- Yeah, it was easy.
- Excellent. What are we watching?
Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
Tell me, what channel is it on?
Five.
All right.
- What'd you do at school today?
- Nothing. I don't know. Nothing.
Can't be nothing.
Something must've happened.
After school I got some baseball cards.
- Mm-hm.
- That was fun.
(IAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY
OVER PHONE)
TONY: Okay, you know those
science-fiction movies?
Star Trek, Star Wars.
They need an exotic location to shoot.
Moonscape, Mars, desert, you know.
Now, imagine this:
They're a Canadian film crew on a location
scout for a science-fiction movie.
We put it out there...
The Canadian producers put it out there.
...That we're looking at Egypt, Istanbul.
Then we go to the consulate and say,
"Hey, we wanna look at Iran too."
I fly into Tehran, we all fly out together
as a film crew. Done.
Flamboyant cover identities should be avoided,
as it increases operational visibility.
This is more plausible than foreigners
who wanna go be teachers in Iran.
You wanna blend in with the population,
you don't look like a rodeo clown.
Just gonna wake up tomorrow morning
and be in the movie business?
We already have credentials
for the teachers.
- No, sir, we have a contact in L.A.
- Chambers.
John Chambers.
He's a Hollywood prosthetics guy.
He's got an Oscar, he did
Planet of the Apes. Did
a bunch of contract work
for us in the past.
I go see him, he sets us up.
One, two days, make it look real.
(CROWD CHANTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
I went outside for 30 seconds. Could you give me a break?
I can't breathe in this house.
- I need some fresh air. I can't breathe.
SCHATZ: Stay inside the fucking house.
- Who saw me go outside? I'm just curious.
- That's not the point, Bob.
- It doesn't matter who saw you go out.
- Did you see me?
- No.
- I did, okay? I saw you.
Bob, it only takes one second
for them to spot you.
KHALKALI: (IN FARSI)
Some Americans are missing.
Look at the repaired list
of embassy employees.
The numbers don't match.
Finish assembling the
pictures from the embassy.
All I need is their faces
and I will find them.
(IN FARSI)
Yes, sir, it will be done.
We want you to go to L.A.
If you can make the movie thing credible,
we'll take you to the director.
Don't fuck up.
The whole country is watching you.
They just don't know it.
WOMAN 1:
My creation.
My creation.
(SCREAMING)
What the fuck, Brian?
- Cut.
MAN: We're cutting.
WOMAN 2: What an idiot.
WOMAN 1: It really hurt.
BRIAN:
I'm sorry.
Chambers. John Chambers, makeup!
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19, 1980
He says the Minotaur prosthetic
is too tight, so he can't act.
If he could act, he wouldn't
be playing the Minotaur.
MAN:
Mr. Chambers?
Kevin Harkins.
Hey, Tony.
JOHN:
Watch your head.
TONY:
What are you shooting?
JOHN:
Monster movie.
TONY:
Yeah? Any good?
(JOHN SIGHS)
Target audience will hate it.
Who's the target audience?
People with eyes.
Talk to me.
It's an exfil.
From where?
Worst place you can think of.
Universal City.
How are you gonna get into the embassy?
They're not in the embassy.
During the takeover, six people escaped.
They're hiding out in Tehran.
- And that's who I'm gonna go get.
- What am I making?
I need you to help me make a fake movie.
Heh. You came to the right place.
I wanna set up a production company
and build a cover around making a movie.
- That we're not gonna make.
- No.
So you wanna come to Hollywood
and act like a big shot?
- Without actually doing anything?
- No.
You'll fit right in.
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS)
JOHN:
Let's see.
Well, this one's got an M.A. in English.
She should be your screenwriter.
Sometimes they go along on scouts
because they want the free meals.
Here's your director.
Can you teach somebody
to be a director in a day?
You can teach a rhesus monkey
to be a director in a day.
Look, if you're gonna do this,
you gotta do it.
The Kho-maniacs are Froot Loops,
but they got cousins...
...who sell prayer rugs
and eight-tracks on La Brea.
You can't build cover stories
around a movie that doesn't exist.
You need a script. You need a producer.
- Make me a producer.
- No.
You're an associate producer at best.
If you're gonna do a $20 million
Star Wars rip-off...
...you need somebody who's a somebody
to put their name on it.
Somebody respectable.
With credits.
Who you can trust
with classified information.
Who'll produce a fake movie.
For free.
Hi. I only got a couple of minutes.
I'm getting a lifetime achievement award.
- Mazel tov, Lester.
LESTER: Ah.
I'd rather stay home and count
the wrinkles on my dog's balls.
Okay, you got six people hiding out
in a town of, what, 4 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.
Past about a hundred militia
at the airport. That's right.
Right.
Look, I gotta tell you.
We did suicide missions in the Army
that had better odds than this.
Sir, the car is here.
(CROWD CHANTING ON TV)
JOHN: You ever think, Lester,
how this is all for the cameras?
Well, they're getting the ratings,
I'll say that for...
We're gonna need a script.
(CROWD SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
(GLASS SHATTERS)
Here, come on, come on, come on.
- No, it's fine.
- Stop.
(GUNSHOTS IN DISTANCE)
Okay.
KATHY:
I love you.
PAT: (IN FARSI)
Sahar, how are you doing?
SAHAR: (IN FARSI)
Fine, thank you.
Your friends from Canada, ma'am.
All this time. They never go out.
Sahar knows.
JOHN:
How about The Horses of Achilles?
No good. Nobody does Westerns any more.
- It's ancient Troy.
- If it's got horses in it, it's a Western.
Hey, Kenny, please.
Yeah, it's John Chambers,
about the office space.
It doesn't matter. It's a fake movie.
If I'm doing a fake movie,
it's gonna be a fake hit.
O'DONNELL: (OVER PHONE) The cardinal wants all
cover options on his desk Friday morning.
Engell's prepping the bikes option,
the teachers option.
You have 72 hours to make yours better.
Fine.
Hey, is A006 still on the open list?
Yeah, I'll hold.
"Fade in on a starship landing.
An exotic, Middle Eastern vibe.
Women gather, offering ecstatic
libations to the sky gods.
Argo. A science-fantasy adventure."
- it's in turnaround. It's dog shit.
- It's a space movie in the Middle East.
- Does it matter?
- Can we get the option?
Why do we need the option?
You're worried about the Ayatollah?
Try the WGA.
LESTER:
Just let me do the talking.
I've known this guy for 25 years.
He's full of shit and he comes on hard...
...but I can handle him.
You want to go into production
with this in one month?
Up like a carny ride.
One month, yeah.
- Who are you again?
- Kevin Harkins. Studio Six Films.
He's the money.
Look, what do you say 15 thou
and let's close on this?
You want me to be honest with you, Les?
LESTER:
No. I would like you to bullshit me, Max.
All right.
I enjoyed your films. The early ones.
I took this meeting out of respect,
because I wanted to say no to your face.
Thank you. Very respectful.
You're finished, Lester.
Get your cataracts fixed, read the trades.
MGM just capitalized for six new films.
They're screaming for sci-fi.
They're offering me four times
what you guys are offering me.
Well, what can I say?
Congratulations.
But, see, it kind of worries me,
what you said, and let me tell you why.
Couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at
Trader Vic's, I was enjoying a Mai Tai...
...when my pal Warren Beatty comes in.
He wishes me well, we had a little chat.
Seems he was attached
to star in Zulu Empire...
...which was gonna anchor that MGM slate.
But Warren confided in me
that the picture's gone over budget...
...because the Zulu extras wanna unionize.
They may be cannibals,
but they want health and dental...
...so the movie's kaput.
Which means that the MGM deal
ain't gonna happen...
...and your script ain't worth
the buffalo shit on a nickel.
So the way it looks to me...
Through the cataracts, I grant you.
...Is that you can either sign here...
...and take $10,000
for your toilet paper script...
...or you can go fuck yourself.
With all due respect.
You really know Warren Beatty?
Yes, I do. I took a leak next to him
once at the Golden Globes.
Taco?
Got any kids, Lester?
Yeah. I have two daughters.
You see them much?
I talk to them once a year.
- Maybe.
- Why is that?
I was a terrible father.
The bullshit business,
it's like coal mining.
You come home to your wife and kids,
you can't wash it off.
You?
Yeah, I got a son.
He lives in Virginia with his mother.
You're divorced?
Taking time off.
He needs to be, you know...
...where he is.
Kids need the mother.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
They caught the shah's chief of security
trying to get on a plane to Paris.
Listen.
Since the incident, the number of guards
at the airport has doubled.
Thorough background examinations
should be expected.
The movie cover isn't strong enough yet.
I need another week, Jack.
You don't have it.
TONY:
We got an office.
We got business cards.
We got a poster.
If I'm the Revolutionary Guard, that's
nothing we couldn't have made at home.
Six people's lives depend on this.
It's not enough. If we're gonna fool
these people, it has to be big.
And it has to have something
that says it's authentic.
I did a movie with Rock Hudson one time.
If you wanna sell a lie...
You get the press to sell it for you.
No, no, no. Press event and then
they're gonna read through the script.
Well, they got a bunch of actors,
they're gonna read from beginning to end.
They have costumes and everything.
No, no, no, I can't.
Variety has an exclusive on that.
Is there any way to make this
more Middle Eastern?
Mesopotamia? Egypt?
Iran.
LESTER: Look, I can get you in, but you're
gonna have to promise me at least half a page.
No, no, this thing's an event.
It's gonna be a spectacle.
(INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE)
NINA: Lester?
- Nina. You look fabulous.
You're doing the reading?
I'm playing Serksi, the Galactic Witch.
Great. I'll call you.
Keep that fucking space witch
away from me.
- You know her?
- I was married to her.
Oh, my God, Iraq is amazing.
Oh, we're shooting in Iran.
Iran with an N?
Yeah. We're very excited.
You ever watch the news?
What does the title refer to?
The Argo. You know, it's the thing.
Like Jason and the Golden Fleece,
or what?
No, no. It's the ship. It's the spaceship.
It goes everywhere.
It goes all throughout space.
So it's the Argonaut.
No.
- What does "Argo" mean?
- I don't know.
You don't know?
It means "Argo fuck yourself."
(GLASS CLINKING)
JOHN: Excuse me. May I have
your attention, ladies and gentlemen?
If our artists could settle in. We're
just about ready to begin the reading.
Argo, by Mary Ann Boyd.
"Fade in on starship landing.
Exterior, bazaar.
An exotic, Middle Eastern vibe."
(JOHN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
TEHRAN MARY: (ON TV)
The people working here are not diplomats.
In fact, as Imam Khomeini said...
...we have found no evidence that proves
that these people are diplomats.
All evidence proves
that these people are spies.
In the name of God,
the beneficent, the merciful...
...our message to the awakened peoples
of the world:
At this time we want
to expose the hateful acts...
NINA:
Our world has changed.
The fire of hope stopped burning
in this galaxy long ago.
The ship is turning around.
Fire the thrusters!
NINA: He says a gravitational field
that strong will kill anyone.
CARTER: (ON TV)
- -Were completely unjustified.
They and all others must know...
...that the United States of America
will not yield...
...to international
terrorism or to blackmail.
DROID: Sir! We'll be crushed!
There's not enough time!
TEHRAN MARY:... are controlled by
capitalists and large oil companies.
The United States government considers
revolutionaries as terrorists...
...but itself and its CIA are the most
terrorizing organization of all time.
JOHN: "The story was told,
but there are infinitely more.
Three setting suns.
The princess's robes fall from her body."
ALEPPA: If we find his ship
we will find our chance.
Aboard the Argo lies
my hope, my hero, my husband.
We will begin the trials
and carry out the sentences.
CRONKITE: You wonder where and how this
seemingly endless parade of hatred will end.
CRONKITE: You wonder where
and how this seemingly
endless parade of hatred will end.
What do they want? They say the question
should be not "what?" but "who?"
What do they want? They say the question
should be not "what?" but "who?"
The answer to that is clear.
They want their former shah.
TEHRAN MARY: ... Carter and his administration
shameful to talk about human rights.
Carter and his government have given
asylum to the worst criminal of all.
For life?
TRANSLATOR: They will remain
until the shah is returned.
CRONKITE: But if the exiled shah,
now in a New York City hospital...
...leaves the United States
for any place other than Iran...
...harsher decisions will be taken
against the hostages.
(LEADER SHOUTS IN FARSI
THEN GUNS CLICKING)
(GASPS THEN SOBS)
JOHN: "We cut outside
to the Shidoori Dome...
...holding on a single red ower...
...as it grows from the ruins
of a starship in the desert.
Fade to black." The end.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
LESTER:
There is it. What'd I tell you?
First shot of the picture.
Argo fuck yourself.
BOTH:
Argo fuck yourself.
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING)
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING) OFFICE OF THE
SECRETARY OF STATE JANUARY 25, 1980
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE
JANUARY 25, 1980
Brace yourself. It's like talking to
those two old fucks on The Muppets.
TURNER:
Aliens and robots?
Yes, sir.
You're telling me that there is a movie
company in Hollywood right now...
...that is funded by the CIA?
Yes, sir.
- What's wrong with the bikes again?
- We tried to get the message upstairs, sir.
You think this is more plausible
than teachers?
Yes, we do. One, there are no
more foreign teachers in Iran.
And we think everybody
knows Hollywood people.
Everybody knows they'd shoot in Stalingrad with
Pol Pot directing if it would sell tickets.
There are only bad options.
It's about finding the best one.
You don't have a better bad idea than this?
This is the best bad idea we have, sir.
By far.
The United States government has just
sanctioned your science-fiction movie.
Thank you, sir.
(BOTH SIGH)
I'm required to remind you that if you are
detained, the agency will not claim you.
Barely claim me as it is.
Your "in case of's" good?
It's just Christine.
I should've brought some books
to read in prison.
No.
They'll kill you long before prison.
- Thanks for the ride.
- Yeah.
(RINGS)
Studio Six.
We got a green light. Keep the office
running until you hear otherwise.
Argo fuck yourself.
Argo fuck yourself.
(RINGING)
(LINE RINGING)
WOMAN: (OVER PA)
Your attention, please.
This is the final boarding call
for British Airways Flight 87.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
(KHOMEINI SPEAKING IN FARSI ON TV)
STAFFORD:
"We are a nation of 35 million.
And many of these people are looking
forward to martyrdom."
(FOOTSTEPS)
- Hey.
- Hey.
Come to bed.
In five minutes.
You know, she pleaded with me.
When it started in the streets
nine months ago...
...she begged for us to leave.
She packed our bags, and I said:
"You know what?
You know, just a little bit longer."
(SIGHS)
And all I was thinking was:
"Stay..
This is good for me.
Stay.
Show Newsom you got the balls."
I can't believe I put
Kathy in this position.
I think we're gonna die here.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JANUARY 27, 1980
NICHOLLS: "Iran is 100 percent
not in a prerevolutionary state."
CIA brief, November 1st, 1979.
Can't be right all the time.
Kevin.
When'd you get back?
NICHOLLS:
The shah escaped in a 747...
...so laden with gold bars,
it nearly didn't make it off the runway.
But you kept busy.
Ferrying out the torture apparatus
of our friend's fallen dictatorship.
It's getting worse.
Everyone who lands at Mehrabad
now fills in one of these.
That slip makes a copy to the one underneath.
Passenger keeps yellow, airport keeps white.
When you leave, they match them up...
...to verify you came into the country
when you say you did.
So if they look, they'll see I didn't come
into the country with six people.
If they look.
When you land, you should go straight to the
Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance...
...to kiss the ring.
Get on record as having applied
for a film permit.
If they catch you later, at least they'll
be confused while they're torturing you.
IRANIAN CONSULATE - TURKEY
What will be the purpose
of your visit to Iran?
Uh, film production. Business.
Why didn't you get your visa in Canada?
I would've loved to, except my boss
didn't send a telex till I got here.
Guy had an intelligent thought in his head,
it would die of loneliness.
The Times and AP found out six escaped.
They know who they are and they know
they're hiding out with the Canadians.
Somebody with one of the families talked.
Mother of God.
Yeah, I just put Vance on a plane
to take the editors to Le Cirque.
He thinks he can
get them to sit on it, for now.
Your guy better get them...
...and get the hell out.
WOMAN: (OVER PA) The captain has informed
us that we have entered Iranian airspace.
We'll be coming through to collect
any remaining alcoholic beverages.
(MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER PA)
(CHATTERING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(HORNS HONKING)
(PEOPLE SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE NEARBY)
This film crew is just yourself?
No, we have six more from Canada
meeting us today.
You like to film at the bazaar?
The bazaar, maybe the palace.
Landmark sites.
I see.
The exotic Orient.
Snake charmers, flying carpets.
You came to us at a complicated time.
Before the revolution, 40 percent of the movie
theaters in Tehran were showing pornography.
I understand.
The function of this
office is purification...
...as well as promotion for the arts.
I'll review this for the minister.
Okay. Thank you.
(BOTH SPEAK IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(BALL BOUNCING)
Lester, you're working late.
Till the dawn's early light.
You got stamina, Lester. I wanna be you.
Well, I'm 150 years old,
so you wouldn't be me for long.
TONY: Mr. Ambassador.
- Ken Taylor.
Thank you for what you're doing.
I was expecting more of a G-man look.
I think you're thinking of the FBI, sir.
Ah. This way.
- These are blank, you know. Stamps...
- Yeah, I'll take care of this.
TAYLOR:
How long?
A day, prep their covers.
Two if they need it.
And you'll fly out with them?
Yeah.
There's something you should know.
We think our housekeeper
has figured out who they are.
We don't know if we can trust her,
so sooner is better.
Hi.
My name's Kevin Harkins...
...and I'm gonna get you home.
These are the screenplays
for your cover identities.
(SCOFFS)
It's theater of the absurd.
- What are our chances?
- Your chances are good.
"Good? Well, what's the number value
of "good"?
Thirty percent chance
of being publicly executed?
Can you tell me what the objection was
to normal cover identities?
There are no Canadians in the country
for normal reasons.
- They'll sniff us out regardless.
LIJEK: The Swedish Consul?
They accused him of being an American
at the airport. They held him for an hour.
We can't hold up under that. We don't
know what the hell movie people do.
That's why I'm here.
I'm gonna help you. I'll be with you
the whole way. This is what I do.
Have you gotten people out
this way before?
This would be a first.
Do you know that every day they catch
another friend of the shah at the airport?
Kangaroo trials and then firing squads...
...just for having American names
in their phone books.
You've been here an hour.
And you're asking us to trust you
with our lives, Mr...?
Harkins.
That's your real name?
No.
I know there are risks involved.
Serious risks.
But it is time to go.
We've got orders to close the embassy and go back.
There's nowhere for them to stay.
We will never make it through
immigration at the airport. I'm serious.
No, no, no, this is what, the part when we
say this is so crazy it might actually work?
Joe, I saw it in Burma.
They get people out.
Snitches in banana republics? They get
them over the border after the coup.
That's your opinion, Joe.
You know, his opinion got us out
in the first place.
If we go out there with fake passports,
we are spies, period. That's execution.
- You got a problem lying, Joe?
- Point is, we can't stay here.
If we get caught, you and Pat go on trial
for harboring the enemy, you know that?
Pat and I have discussed it.
It's the risk we took.
STAFFORD: That man out there
has got bad cards and he is going to lose.
And if he loses, it's our lives.
And his life too.
ANDERS:
Look, we don't have any alternatives.
We gotta go.
(CLEARS THROAT)
TONY: These cover identities were created
specifically for each one of you.
What you need to do is memorize
everything that's inside.
Who you are, what you are,
where you've been. Complete bio.
And then add to that.
Where do you vacation? What are your
allergies? Who'd you have an affair with?
The only way this works...
...is if you believe that you're these
people so much that you dream like them.
Get started tonight.
I'll be back tomorrow.
We'll get going. Good luck.
SCHATZ:
Well, my guy kind of sucks.
KATHY:
What's your name?
Mike McEwan, eh? Heh.
LIJEK:
That was convincing.
CORA:
Kathy, what's your name?
(CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER SPEAKERS)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANNOUNCER: (ON TV) The Love Boat
will be seen 15 minutes from now.
The State Department insisted today
that the crisis in Afghanistan...
...will not divert the attention of the United
States from the plight of the hostages.
- -is perceived to be if not impotent,
then at least reluctant...
Now the United States finds itself in such
bitter confrontation with the Soviet Union...
...over that country's invasion
of Afghanistan...
The United States
is now moving toward a decision...
...to boycott the Summer Olympics
in Moscow...
Bad news, bad news.
Even when it's good news, it's bad news.
John Wayne's in the ground six months,
this is what's left of America.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
TONY: "The Minister of Culture and Guidance
has approved your location scout.
He will send his representative to meet
you and your crew...
...at the Khayyam entrance
to the Grand Bazaar tomorrow at 3 p.m."
They called your bluff.
- Maybe they're cooperating.
- Absolutely not.
Seven Americans walking the bazaar
is asking for a riot. It's the hive.
Seven Canadians, Jack.
Never give them multiple shots at a cover.
Are they even ready?
They're getting there.
There's no prize for "Most improved."
I don't have a choice.
We say no, they show up at the residence...
...and drag everyone out.
You think their covers are gonna hold up...
...when they're getting their fingernails
pulled out?
(PEOPLE CHATTERING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
You want us to go to the Grand Bazaar
at 3:00 in the afternoon?
You said a day to learn our covers,
then straight to the airport.
They suspect something?
What I know is,
we need to pretend to be a movie crew.
We go to the bazaar today,
we fly out from the airport tomorrow.
(LIJEK SCOFFS)
We won't do it.
He told them that there were six of us.
So they're expecting six.
It would be suspicious
not to show up at this point.
What else do we have to do, all right?
STAFFORD: He's about to show them
the only cards that we're holding...
...which is that they don't know we're here!
- That's the ball game, okay?
Look, we don't have any other choice!
Who says that we'll know our covers
well enough?
We're not in the CIA.
It's suicide.
I'm asking you to trust me.
I don't trust you.
This is the game, Joe.
What world are you living in?
The one where they're hanging people
from construction cranes, Bob.
It's too dangerous.
I won't bring my wife into the bazaar.
ANDERS:
Joe?
(LIJEK SIGHS)
So we'll see you at 2.
CORA: So don't be recognizable
but look exactly like your passport photo.
I haven't been this nervous
since our wedding.
Only this isn't a huge mistake, hopefully.
(LIJEK LAUGHS)
PAT:
Sorry. Okay.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
(FOOTSTEPS)
Who was that?
- Mark?
- Yeah?
I'm scared.
It's okay.
(BARKING AND HOWLING)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
Where are they?
In the kitchen.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
This is what I do. I get people out.
And I've never left anyone behind.
I wish I could believe you, Mr. Harkins.
My name is Tony Mendez.
I'm from New York.
My father worked construction.
My mother teaches elementary school.
I have a wife and a 10-year-old son.
You play along with me today,
I promise you, I will get you out tomorrow.
Fuck.
(PEOPLE SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER PA)
(DEMONSTRATORS SHOUTING
IN DISTANCE)
(CROWD CHANTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Shit.
Hang on.
You all right?
Okay. Tell me who you are.
Mike McEwan, cameraman.
Robert Baker, director.
Timothy Harris, location manager.
Mary Ann Boyd, screenwriter.
Rachel Dewart, production designer.
Sean Bissett, associate producer.
All right. Let's go make a movie.
(REZA SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Welcome, welcome.
My name is Reza Bolhani.
- Kevin Harkins. I'm the producer.
- Nice to meet you.
This is Mike McEwan, our cameraman.
This is Tim.
This is Mary, our screenwriter.
And this is our director, Bob Baker.
- You are the director?
- Yes.
Is this film a foreign-bride film?
Sorry?
A film where a foreign
bride comes to Iran...
...but she doesn't understand the language
or the customs...
...and there is misunderstandings
and laughs.
Oh, no.
(SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
REZA: The bazaar in Tehran
is one of the largest in the world.
This bazaar has been on this spot
for over 8000 years.
You can find many items
such as paper, spices...
...precious metals, all right here.
Right this way, please.
(REZA SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
This way.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
(REZA SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
TONY: Uh, Mike?
SCHATZ: Yeah.
If I was to say you're looking through the wrong
end of that viewfinder, would I be right?
Yup.
REZA:
Just a little further.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(VEHICLE APPROACHING)
REZA:
Please wait here. Let's stay together.
(SHOPKEEPER & REZA SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
He wants the photograph you took.
It's okay, it's her job to take photographs.
She's the production designer.
He says he did not give you permission
to take a photograph of his store.
That's okay. You can
tell him he can have it.
Please, please, just take the photograph.
(IN FARSI) Peace be upon you.
SAHAR: (IN FARSI)
And upon you, sir. Welcome.
I hope you are well.
Thank you very much. How are you?
I'm very well. What's your name?
Sahar.
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
He's saying that the shah killed his son
with an American gun.
No, no, no! No! Canada!
Canada!
I would like to suggest
that we end our visit.
(ALL SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
You know, sister...
...those who are with him, Rasool of Allah,
we are tender among ourselves.
But stern against the Kufar.
As God wills it.
But those who sit silently have sinned.
How else may I help, sir?
No, no, just one thing.
How long have they been here?
Pardon?
The guests of the Ambassador.
The guests of the Ambassador.
How long have they been here?
They arrived two days ago.
Forgive my intrusion, one must be vigilant.
Everyone in this house is a friend of Iran.
(KHALKALI SPEAKS IN FARSI)
(SIGHS)
(CHATTERING)
TAYLOR:
How'd it go?
What about tomorrow?
Tomorrow they'll be ready.
NEWSCASTER: (ON TV)
For Kennedy, a stunning turnaround...
...one week after humiliation in Illinois.
KENNEDY:
I love New York.
(CROWD LAUGHING ON TV)
And I love Connecticut too.
NEWSCASTER:
How did he win here? Well, he had help.
CARTER: I'm responsible for anything
that goes wrong in this government.
A man in Scranton is placing a flag
in his lawn for every day of captivity.
When he runs out of lawn,
Kennedy wins the primary.
The six with the Canadians
are coming out.
Who signed off on this?
- You. Where was your passport issued?
- Vancouver.
- Where were you born?
- Toronto.
"Torono." Canadians don't pronounce the T.
Some Komiteh guard
is actually gonna know that?
If you're detained for questioning, they
will bring in someone who knows that. Yes.
Mary, who were the last three
prime ministers of Canada?
Trudeau, Pearson and Diefenbaker.
- What's your father's name?
- Howard.
- What's his occupation?
CORA: Fisherman.
TONY: Where were you born?
- Halifax, Nova Scotia.
What's your date of birth?
February 21st, 1952.
- Good. What's your job on the movie?
STAFFORD: Producer.
TONY: Associate. Last movie you produced?
- High and Dry.
- Who paid for that?
- CFDC.
What's your middle name?
What's your middle name?
- Leon?
- Shoot him. He's an American spy.
Look, they're gonna try to break you, okay?
By trying to get you agitated.
You have to know your rsum
back to front.
You really believe your little story's gonna make
a difference when there's a gun to our heads?
I think my story's the only thing
between you and a gun to your head.
Okay.
Hey, they made it through
the location scout.
(LIGHTER CLICKING)
You have a call.
What is it?
Go to black on green.
Go.
- It all just changed.
- What?
- They're calling the game. You gotta come back.
- What?
Joint Chiefs are planning
a military rescue of the hostages.
Delta Force has started training
to storm the grounds.
So if the six of them...
...are brought down there,
they won't be held for long.
Fuck. Goddamn it. I never would have exposed
them if I wasn't authorized to get them out.
- It's over, Tony.
- If they stay here, they will be taken.
- Probably not alive.
- Listen to me. The thinking has changed.
Six Americans get pulled out of a
Canadian diplomat's house and executed...
...it's a world outrage.
Six Americans get caught playing
movie make-believe...
...with the CIA at the
airport and executed?
It's a national embarrassment.
They are calling the operation.
We're responsible for these people.
What we are is required to follow orders.
I'm sorry.
Fuck!
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
Come in.
Ready to try again.
You're ready. You worked hard.
Probably the best thing to do for you
right now would be...
...just to relax.
Okay.
You did good.
Thanks.
(LED ZEPPELIN'S
"WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS" PLAYING)
Scorched-earth policy tonight.
(CHUCKLING)
Nothing gets left.
So you know.
ExtAff wants you to burn the passports
before you leave.
If we tell them now, they'll panic.
I think it's best if you just don't show.
It was always a fucked mission.
You came closer than anybody else.
If it keeps on rainin'
Levee's goin' to break
When the levee breaks
I'll have no place to stay
(ANDERS LAUGHING)
(SIGHS)
(INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE)
(MAN CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
OVER PA)
(PHONE CLATTERS)
Ahem. It's off.
They want us to pack up the office.
This can wait. Let's go get a drink.
He's late.
(PHONE RINGS)
O'Donnell.
TONY:
Somebody's responsible...
...when things happen, Jack.
I'm responsible.
- I'm taking them through.
- Tony?
Alan. Alan. We need to confirm those
seven tickets out of Tehran on Swissair.
- N.E. shut that down.
- I say it's back on.
- I can't do it. It's backstopped.
- Hey, wait a minute.
What the hell you talking about, backstopped?
What the hell's that mean?
Carter's gotta say yes for us
to get the tickets.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
It's time to go.
All right.
- Where's Engell?
- He's in a meeting.
- Pull him out.
- Uh...
Pull him out!
LIJEK:
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
TONY: Thank you.
TAYLOR: See you soon.
- Sahar's on a bus.
TONY: Great.
Sahar will be fine.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You two leave right now, right?
- We'll be on a train in half an hour.
TONY:
Good.
ENGELL:
N.E. said no.
This is not a long leasher, and it never
has been, and you don't decide if it goes!
It is going!
Jack, you are this close.
Am I? Am I really that close?
You are this goddamn close to the line
with me.
I am not gonna leave him at the airport
with six people and his dick in his hand.
You tell the director to call the White House.
Do your fucking job!
Get to your plane, Claude.
(SPEAKS IN FRENCH)
First time anyone's gonna ask you
a question is at the first checkpoint.
The first checkpoint is just
to get a look at your passports.
Passports came straight from Ottawa
last week. They're clean.
O'DONNELL:
Find the White House chief of staff.
How would I find him?
We're a fucking spy agency! Find him!
The second checkpoint is immigration.
You're each gonna hand them one of these.
It says that you landed in the country
two days ago.
They'll look for the matching white one,
which doesn't exist.
You'll say you don't know what happened.
And if you believe they
lost the white slip...
...they'll believe it too.
Jordan's in the West Wing.
He's not taking calls.
Where are his kids?
MALI NOV:
What?
Where do his kids go to school?
Thank you, thank you.
Pace Academy, Buckhead, Georgia.
(LINE BUZZES)
White House.
Yes, this is Mr. Murphy from Pace Academy
calling for Mr. Jordan.
Yeah, I'm afraid it is an emergency.
Hold for the chief of staff's office.
TONY:
The third checkpoint is the trap.
It's manned by the Revolutionary Guard.
Most of them were educated
in the U.S. or Europe.
And all of whom are looking for Americans.
Hello?
O'DONNELL: Jack O'Donnell, from C. I.
- Wait, wait, who?
Tehran Houseguest operation is ready now.
We don't have the president's go-ahead.
They are going to be captured.
David, pick up!
(SQUAWKS)
TONY:
Zurich. It's under Harkins.
I'm sorry, sir, I don't seem
to have these reservations.
Telex on flash.
Would you mind checking again, please?
Copy D.S. Confirm the tickets! Go!
My apologies. It just came through.
Swissair says they picked up the tickets.
Get the L.A. office,
tell them to be ready in case they call.
We told them to shut that down.
(WOMAN SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANDERS:
There you go.
Not here.
(OFFICERS SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(PANTING)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(OFFICER SPEAKS
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
When did you come to Iran?
Two days ago.
What was the purpose of your visit?
We are looking for locations for a film.
We have a...
Oh, yeah. I've got a letter
from the Ministry of Culture.
If you want to take a look at that.
All right?
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ANDERS: Ahem.
- You can go.
(LINE RINGING)
(RINGING)
Come on, come on.
WOMAN: (OVER PA) Swissair Flight 363
is now boarding Rows 18 to 35.
(GUARDS SPEAKING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
We're going to...
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
We're together, yes.
The six of us, we're from Canada.
Purser's telling Swissair
they're not on the plane.
They should have boarded already.
Still no answer in L.A.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
Sir.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
STAFFORD: (IN FARSI) Yes, it's a fantasy
story about a war in another world.
Here you can see our notices.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
STAFFORD:
Of course I speak Farsi.
I wish to make a film in Iran.
(STAFFORD SPEAKING IN FARSI)
CORA:
No, I'm the writer.
Kevin, give me the storyboards.
(IN FARSI) These are the drawings that show
what we will film for the movie.
Alien villains have taken
over the hero's planet.
They fight for their families and
take back the city.
The villains know he is the chosen one,
so they kidnap his son in the spice market.
So he and his wife storm the castle.
The people... hold that... the
people are inspired to join him.
They are farmers, but
they learn to fight.
(IMITATES AIRCRAFT FLYING
AND WEAPONS FIRING)
They shoot weapons at their enemies.
(IMITATES EXPLOSION)
And the king of the aliens is destroyed
when the people find their courage.
You don't go until we verify.
Sir, you can call our office.
They'll verify.
(GUARD SPEAKS IN FARSI)
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(ACTORS GRUNTING)
- It'd go all the way throughout the '30s.
MAN: We're shooting right now.
- We're just going to the Producers Building.
- Yeah, I understand. We're shooting right now.
(PHONE RINGING)
(RINGING CONTINUES)
(LINE RINGING)
WOMAN: (OVER PA) Swissair announces
final boarding for Flight 363 to Zurich.
(GRUNTING)
WOMAN:
Reset! We're back to one.
MAN 1: All right, reset.
MAN 2: We're going again!
- We're just right at the Producers...
- Right away, everyone! And rolling!
- We're going to the Producers Building.
- We're rolling.
(ACTORS GRUNTING)
(RINGING)
(LINE RINGING)
(GRUNTING CONTINUES)
Sorry, pal. We're gonna be in the movie.
Call my agent.
Sir!
(LINE RINGING)
(RINGING)
Studio Six Productions.
May I speak to a Mr. Kevin Harkins?
I'm sorry, Mr. Harkins is out of country
on a location scout. May I take a message?
(KHALKALI SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Doors are closing for Flight 363 to Zurich.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
We can go.
You keep these. It's a gift.
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SPEAKING IN FARSI)
(IMITATES AIRCRAFT FLYING)
WOMAN:
Miss.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(RINGING)
(SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(ENGINE STALLING)
(ENGINE REVS)
(GUARD SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(GUARDS SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(SEATBELT CLICKS)
(WOMAN SCREAMS)
(ALARMS BLARING)
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO)
Swissair 363, clearance for taxi?
Swissair 363,
you are number two for departure.
PILOT: (OVER PA) Ladies and gentlemen, from the
ight deck, we are number two for takeoff.
(ALARMS BLARING)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(GUARDS SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
Swissair 363, you are cleared for takeoff.
Swissair 363, cleared for takeoff.
(GUARDS SHOUTING
IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(DOOR THUDS THEN GUARDS SHOUTING)
We got wheels up.
Wait.
(BELL DINGS)
STEWARDESS: Ladies and gentlemen,
it is our pleasure to announce...
...that alcoholic beverages are now available
as we have cleared Iranian airspace.
(LAUGHING)
(MOUTHS) I love you.
(LAUGHING)
They're clear. Ha-ha-ha!
Yes! Yes!
LAMONT: Yeah!
MALINOV: Yes!
LAMONT:
Yeah, man.
They're out!
- They're out! They're out!
- We got them out!
(LAUGHING)
They're out!
(LAUGHING)
(STAFF APPLAUDING)
MALINOV:
Yes!
Great work, boys.
JOHN:
We did it!
(LAUGHING)
(GUARD SPEAKING IN ARABIC)
(IN ARABIC)
You are admitted to the Republic of Iraq.
LESTER:
We made history tonight.
History starts out as farce
and ends up as tragedy.
Quote's the other way around.
- Yeah, who said it?
- Marx.
Groucho said that?
(JOHN LAUGHS)
LAMONT: Call the Times, nail
it to the goddamn door.
CIA are the good guys.
The Canadians are the good guys.
LAMONT:
Yeah, we're not greedy. Them too.
Only. Canada takes the credit,
or they retaliate against the hostages.
Great Satan wasn't involved.
No CIA.
LAMONT:
Is that right, Jack?
Involved in what?
We were as surprised as anybody.
Thank you, Canada.
MacDONALD: (ON TV)
We knew that each day they stayed there...
...the danger was becoming greater.
We had been looking for
a solution to have them
leave the country during
the past three months.
Day 87, and finally a sliver
of really good news.
The U.S. Department of State
hereby honors Joe Stafford...
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
...Kathy Stafford...
...Mark Lijek...
We Americans will be forever grateful to
our great friend and ally to the north...
...for the protection and the safe passage
provided for our diplomats.
UNDERSECRETARY:
Bob Anders.
GHOTBZADEH:
Here, or anywhere in the world...
...Canada will pay...
...for this violation
of the sovereignty of Iran.
WOMAN: Thank you to Pat and Ken Taylor
and the great nation of Canada.
(CROWD CHEERING AND APPLAUDING)
LESTER: So I'm sitting in Jerry's
this morning, I'm having breakfast.
Waitress comes over to me,
she's waving a newspaper, and she says:
"You see what those Canadians pulled off?
Why can't we do something like that?"
And I said to her... Do
you know what I said?
No, what?
"Argo fuck yourself."
(BOTH LAUGHING)
All set.
Thanks a lot.
Ha!
Heh. And I left my autograph book at home.
(O'DONNELL SIGHS)
His Eminence called me.
He wants to see you.
Probably wants to fire me himself.
He wants to give you the Intelligence Star.
You're getting the highest
award of merit...
...of the Clandestine Services
of these United States.
Ceremony's on the 14th.
If they push it a week, I can bring Ian.
That's his winter break.
The op was classified,
so the ceremony's classified.
He can't know about it.
Nobody can know about it.
So they're just gonna give me an award
and then they're gonna take it back.
That's right.
If we wanted applause,
we would've joined the circus.
- I thought we did.
- Ha.
Carter said you were a great American.
Great American what?
O'DONNELL:
He didn't say.
What happened to your picture?
It's in turnaround.
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
Can I come in?
The Iran Hostage Crisis ended
on January 20, 1981, when all
remaining hostages were released.
They spent 444 days in captivity.
The involvement of the C.l.A.
complemented efforts of
the Canadian embassy in freeing
the six held in Tehran.
To this day, this story
stands as an enduring model
for international cooperation
between governments.
All of the Houseguests returned to the U.S.
Foreign Service after their ordeal in Iran.
Oscar-winning makeup artist John Chambers was
awarded the C.I.A.'s Intelligence Medal, its
highest civilian honor. He and Mendez remained
friends until Chambers' death in 2001.
Tony Mendez's Intelligence Star
was returned to him in 1997,
when the Argo operation was
declassified by President Clinton.
He lives in rural Maryland with his family.
CARTER: They went in, as you know, under the
guise of creating a motion-picture film.
But that it had a very high possibility
of failure.
And after it was successful, of course...
...it was a great temptation
to reveal all the stories...
...so maybe I could take a little bit
of credit for it, since I was president...
...but we had to keep it secret.
Tony Mendez has gone down in CIA history...
...after his retirement...
...as one of the 50 most important
CIA operatives of all time.
Eventually we got every hostage
back home, safe and sound...
...and we upheld the integrity of our
country, and we did it peacefully.
(English - US - SDH)