OT: Argo

[PRB]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I did see a “making of” show about it and it seemed interesting. Did the CIA really go to Hollywood for help with disguises to rescue these people? Then last week I bought this book, “Spy Dust”, from a used book store last week because I wanted something to read while on travel. It looked interesting, about the CIA's work in Moscow and other places in the 1970s and 80s, when the KGB was eating our lunch. The authors, Antonio and Jonna Mendez, were both spies working in the “OTC”, Office of Technical Services, the “Q” of the CIA. They made gadgets and disguises. So I looked up this Mendez guy on Amazon and found this other book he wrote: “Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History.” I went “No s***!” And I ordered it!

[Ferry_vO]

The movie is not bad, though the story is more 'compact' than the real story. Parts have been left out and it seems the role of the Canadians was much bigger during the real events. Still an entertaining movie, and a story which if you would make it up, no one would believe it....

[PRB]

Rgr that. Thanks Ferry. One of the interesting things about “Spy Dust” is that it's about events that took place in the 1980s, after the Iranian hostage events. And even though it was written in 2002, not a word about the “Argo” events is in there. I'm guessing it was still classified in 2002. The things that are covered in “Spy Dust” is the truly amazing things the CIA did with disguises, often used to get people out of the Soviet Union, like KGB officers who started working for us... Many of those people were caught (and executed) in the 1980s, as a result of CIA people who turned and started working for the KGB. :isadizzy:

[PRB]

Speaking of "Argo", tonight the National Geographic channel's series "Locked Up Abroad" is bout this event, and it's supposed to go into more details on the role played by the Canadians. Comes on a 9:00 pm here.

[Hooraw]

Argo is probably a good Hollywoodized version of the facts, I haven't viewed it, nor have any intention to, as I watched it (the news) in real time, as most of us oldies members on this website did, where we had to gather a overview scenerio of what really happened. Literally stitching it together, like those weavers stitched the shredded documents from the U.S. embassy in Tehran. There are a parallels of what happened then, as happened in recent memory.

Check this out> "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis"

[Moses03]

I liked the movie as strictly entertainment but as already mentioned, the facts were folded, spindled and mutilated to fit the script.

[Dain Arns]

I liked the movie as strictly entertainment but as already mentioned, the facts were folded, spindled and mutilated to fit the script.

Ditto. But enjoyable entertainment, IMHO.

[PRB]

Argo is probably a good Hollywoodized version of the facts, I haven't viewed it, nor have any intention to, as I watched it (the news) in real time, as most of us oldies members on this website did, where we had to gather a overview scenerio of what really happened. Literally stitching it together, like those weavers stitched the shredded documents from the U.S. embassy in Tehran. There are a parallels of what happened then, as happened in recent memory.

Check this out> "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis"

I don't plan on watching the movie either, since I'm going to read the book by the guy who did it, but it isn't about the hostage crisis that we all watched on the news. The events surrounding the story told in the movie “Argo” were only declassified in 1997, according to the “Locked up Abroad” episode. Tony Mendez, the author of this and a couple other interesting CIA books, is the character played by Ben Affleck, and was the CIA guy who went in and got them out. In the 1980s, he and a CIA team “exfiltrated” a KGB officer and his family from Moscow, after decades of secretly working for the US, so I guess he got pretty good at this sort of thing. :)