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Argo-The Truth: List All Fabrications In this Movie

posted 9 years ago by Beethovens100
35 replies | jump to latest

1. The 6 who escaped were helped by some locals who worked in the embassy and the Iranian husband of an American woman.

See not all Iranians were evil and wanted to kill them

2. They spent at least one night with the British in the British residential area and Lee Schatz spent at least a couple of nights in the Swedish offices (rented from Americans in a building leased the USA) and then some nights with a Swedish Embassy worker at her place. She wanted to keep him longer but her ambassador told her no.

So others did help not just the Canadians

3. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the group's leader Bob Anders rang Sheardown first and asked him for help. Sheardown told him he should have rung earlier and when Bob said there whre actually 5 in all he said "Bring 'em all"!

Sheardown got the group to his place first after they had been staying in a different place night for nearly a week.

4. Half of group stay at Sheardown's and half stay at Taylor's.

Both wives work very hard to help guests and help with prying questions from servants, etc.

5. Canadian PM and Min for Foreign Affairs, Flora McDonald hold a secret special cabinet meeting to allow the 6 to get Canadian passports. CIA may(?) have given them false names but it was the Canadians who sent passports to Ken Taylor in diplomatic pouch.

CIA did help with entry and exit stamps as 6 brand new passports would look a bit odd with no other countries stamps but also needed forged entry dates.

HOWEVER a mistake was made with one of the passports giving the wrong exit date and had to be changed by Canadian Embassy Staff. This was one mistake by the CIA but luckily the Canadian embassy staff spotted it.

Mendez did NOT forge or fake any documentation in the country of Iran. Well not for these 6 anyway.

6. Mendez had a few business proposals ideas and gave them to the group, they selected the movie producer idea. I think it was whatever they felt most comfortable with.

There was never any cast hired, dress rehearsals, etc. Yes a fake commerical was put in the Hollywood reporter.

7. It was a Canadian Embassy staff who helped the group rehearse their answers, not Mendez.

8. The Canadians did a lot of research about the US embassy, revolutionary guards, roadblocks, etc and sent the info to the USA.

9. The plan was never called off at the last minute "just before dawn". Taylor booked extra flights on different airlines just to be on the safe side which cost him a pretty penny.

10. Lots of Canadian Embassy staff arriving and departing the Tehran airport were questioned by Taylor and his Canadian team about airport procedure to help prep the team. Not sure what Mendez and the rest of the CIA did there.

11. The 6 could never leave either residence except very rarely. In Mark Lijeks book he says they rarely say the Staffords so the Bazaar scene certainly never happened. They were only brought together when leaving Iran for good.

12. The group were never questioned even once. There were 3 different customs/checkpoints. There was a delay before boarding though.

13. Plane chase 😱 enough said.. Never Happened!

14. The group were surprised to see the rest of Canadian Embassy staff at the airport. Canada had to evacuate it's staff over weeks and then close down it's embassy for fear of retaliation by the Iranians. Such was the risk they took helping the Americans.

Help me out with the rest.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] ozjosh03 8 years ago

The biggest nonsense is actually the "so-crazy-it's-brilliant" idea of using the cover of a fake film. Argo tries to make it seem like there were no other viable options available to them. The truth is that there were hundreds of foreign engineers, scientists and diplomats leaving Iran all through this period, and any of those covers would have been infinitely more plausible. The Canadians pointed this out, but Mendez ignored their expert advice. He was committed to the film ruse not for any good reason, but seemingly because he found it amusing and it played to his own sense of ego and self-importance. In other words, he increased the risk for those he was trying to help on not much more than a whim.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Razor187 9 years ago

15. Tony Mendez is NOT white
16. Cora Lijek is NOT white

And so Governor Devlin, because even the cost of freedom can be too high, I REFUSE your pardon!

[–] Dave-988 9 years ago

You're complaining about a Hollyweird film being somewhat inaccurate? Next are you going to get upset when I tell you that politicians often lie? That there isn't a Santa Claus? If Peter Jackson had directed this film (like the New Zealand Tourism Board wanted him to) it would have been just as historically accurate as any of the LOTR movies, and sixteen hours long.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Dave-988 9 years ago

LOTR is fiction? Nae, Nae I say! Why, just the other day I had a happy meal at Burger King with an Orc who had a great, great, great, great ....(you get the idea) grandfather who fought in that war. He showed me the pictures! I've even ridden on his Oliphant!

Seriously, there's a thousand or more movies that pretend to tell a true story and come up short. Heck, The Longest Day is just over three hours long. That's not even an afternoon. I don't see any sane reason for the hate. It's just a movie.

I gotta go, I can't be late for my dentist appointment. You know how Elves are when they have to wait!

My apologies to all the Elves out there... That last sentence might be a little racist.... Well, if there really were Elves, I guess.... It could be Anti-Dentite as well. That's a real thing ya know, saw it on Seinfeld....

[–] ajukoor 9 years ago

I don't care. And you also shouldn't. When the film came out, I defenitely wanted to see it. Not because I was partuclarily interested by the 'based on real life' events, but because at that moment I was already hooked by the Works of director Ben Affleck. And I made my own research about the real historical event, before the film came out. Just because I wanted to know little bit about actual event. The film wasn't very accurate, it was quite a fantasy based on true events. I guess, that's what they're meaning when they but that line in their movie trailers and posters - based on...

Anyway, the film was good - enough thrills and suspence, great acting, great script (if you don't mind the historical inaccuracies).

Well, I guess the film could have been more accurate, because most of the people doesn't give a F about reading more, and they take everything they see in the movie as a fact. Especially if the poster says - based on true life events.

P.S. Schindler's list wasnt very accurate also, although people keep praising it.

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

^^^^ Bing Bang BOOM.

This PC bull$hit is insanity. It's a FILM. Not a documentary... Even those plenty of those are works of fiction nowadays as well lol. These people above need to find me an accurate portrayal of ANYTHING in Hollywood. Schindler's List is the perfect example. Same goes with Saving Private Ryan. Again, praised as one of the best films ever

[–] Balibari 9 years ago

For me the most important fabrication: not all Iranians are angry, aggressive, bestial thugs.

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

No, not ALL. But the Iranian Government doesn't help in this department

[–] getjono 8 years ago

New Zealand’s embassy staff Richard Sewell secretly helped the Americans escape by providing food and supplies as they sheltered at the Canadian embassy.
They also provided a further safe house.
It was Sewell who actually also drove the group to the airport to catch the plane to get them out of Iran.
The movie depicts NZ turned their backs on the Americans - which couldn't be further from the truth

Seems every time I watch an American account of history I have to stop myself sending a thank-you for saving the world telegram to the USA president - and check the facts

[–] GattiPL 8 years ago

This is not an American account of history it's a movie, not a documentary or a history book

Lmao people just look for any reason to bash Americans for the slightest thing it's getting so annoying (I'm Canadian btw)

[–] Beethovens100 8 years ago

I'm not trying to bash the Americans but to claim it's true over and over again but leaving out lots of the Canadian staff and other countries who helped is dishonest. Sheardown should have been mentioned.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] There_Is_No_Sayid 8 years ago

The film portrays the Canadians as mostly just providing a hiding spot, but IIRC Jimmy Carter has said that it was mostly a Canadian operation with some assist from the CIA.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] dimsum73-1 8 years ago

People, it's a movie. No movie based on a real life person or event is 100% accurate. They have 2 hours to tell a real life situation. Impossible. Of course they're going to bend the facts. It's also entertainment.

Read Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden if you want the truth.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] YurmaBeach 8 years ago

BetterThanThis, I find it quite ironic that you accuse others of arrogance, when a quick check of your previous posts shows you to be the quite possibly the most arrogant poster on IMDB. I'm sure you're just loaded with friends with that personality. I hate to break this to you, but every person's opinion on IMDB is as valid as yours. The only difference is that other posters don't try to beat you over the head by repeating the same drivel over and over like an infant. Besides the fact that you're a bore, your misplaced anger only makes you sound foolish and childish. But please continue, as I find your posts quite amusing and comical. Unfortunately I don't have much time to read internet boards, as I'm too busy enjoying my life in the greatest country in the world.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] npm_petre_mihai 8 years ago

Congrats on your posts. I've just finished the movie and I was shocked. I did some minimal research before to know what I'm watching but goddamn, it has almost nothing to do with reality. As always, americans have to be the heroes although others were the real heroes. How the hell did this movie get an Oscar for best movie when it was just *beep* Would have been so hard to tell the real story? The average american who doesn't know what a book looks like will die with the idea that an american saved those 6 people. And how many movies do that? Saying that they're based on true events but in reality depicting just a propaganga fantasy?

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] GattiPL 8 years ago

Buddy, Rudy is based on a true story too and is in fact almost entirely a fabrication. You don't hear so many people wining about that. But as soon as it involves a Canadian getting overlooked. Watch out, the arrogant Canadians who look down their nose at Americans come out of the wood work. You clinched it when he mentioned "the greatest country," I knew you couldn't resist saying he must live in Canada lmao

Just like a little brother who thinks he's better than the older brother who has more accomplishments lol

And i swear on my life I'm born and raised in Canada. Except my parents are from Europe and they exposed me to a world view. I do have an uncle in the states who I rarely see too. My thought process is just different than most here.

Canadians do the same thing with history, especially about the world wars. Ignoring heroes and supporting their own version of events. And that's not even in a movie but in history books I had in school lol

You're no different from the "ignorant americans," people that come to Canada think generally Canadians are just as ignorant as Americans,

But in reality, every country slants everything to their own version of events and people enjoy taking a sliver of truth and making a film about their version of how it could of went down. It's no big deal, it's just a movie.

Now if it was a documentary, I could see why you'd be pissed.

[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

'People, it's a movie. No movie based on a real life person or event is 100% accurate.'

The filmakers implied it was very accurate. Look at the end credits as they show how accurately they mocked up the set design.

It's that man again!!

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Beethovens100 8 years ago

I've read about 3 books at this stage about the Iranian hostage crisis and every one compliments Sheardown. How could Ben Affleck have left him out?

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] hovercraftfullofeels 8 years ago

Very good posts. I'm glad there are some people out there who are prepared to take the time to expose charlatans such as those responsible for this work of fiction.