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Argo

  • 2012
  • R
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
653K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,201
139
Argo (2012)
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
Play trailer2:33
25 Videos
99+ Photos
DocudramaPeriod DramaPolitical DramaPolitical ThrillerBiographyDramaHistoryThriller

Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. ho... Read allActing under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.

  • Director
    • Ben Affleck
  • Writers
    • Chris Terrio
    • Tony Mendez
    • Joshuah Bearman
  • Stars
    • Ben Affleck
    • Bryan Cranston
    • John Goodman
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    653K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    1,201
    139
    • Director
      • Ben Affleck
    • Writers
      • Chris Terrio
      • Tony Mendez
      • Joshuah Bearman
    • Stars
      • Ben Affleck
      • Bryan Cranston
      • John Goodman
    • 987User reviews
    • 659Critic reviews
    • 86Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 3 Oscars
      • 96 wins & 156 nominations total

    Videos25

    Winner: Best Picture
    Trailer 2:33
    Winner: Best Picture
    No. 1
    Trailer 2:31
    No. 1
    No. 1
    Trailer 2:31
    No. 1
    Argo: Nobody Makes Westerns Any More
    Clip 0:48
    Argo: Nobody Makes Westerns Any More
    Argo: We Did Suicide Missions With Better Odds
    Clip 0:39
    Argo: We Did Suicide Missions With Better Odds
    Argo: What We Like For This Are Bicycles
    Clip 1:08
    Argo: What We Like For This Are Bicycles
    Argo: They Are Going To Try And Break You
    Clip 0:58
    Argo: They Are Going To Try And Break You

    Photos376

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 372
    View Poster

    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Ben Affleck
    Ben Affleck
    • Tony Mendez
    Bryan Cranston
    Bryan Cranston
    • Jack O'Donnell
    John Goodman
    John Goodman
    • John Chambers
    Alan Arkin
    Alan Arkin
    • Lester Siegel
    Victor Garber
    Victor Garber
    • Ken Taylor
    Tate Donovan
    Tate Donovan
    • Bob Anders
    Clea DuVall
    Clea DuVall
    • Cora Lijek
    Scoot McNairy
    Scoot McNairy
    • Joe Stafford
    Rory Cochrane
    Rory Cochrane
    • Lee Schatz
    Christopher Denham
    Christopher Denham
    • Mark Lijek
    Kerry Bishé
    Kerry Bishé
    • Kathy Stafford
    Kyle Chandler
    Kyle Chandler
    • Hamilton Jordan
    Chris Messina
    Chris Messina
    • Malinov
    Zeljko Ivanek
    Zeljko Ivanek
    • Robert Pender
    Titus Welliver
    Titus Welliver
    • Bates
    Keith Szarabajka
    Keith Szarabajka
    • Adam Engell
    Bob Gunton
    Bob Gunton
    • Cyrus Vance
    Richard Kind
    Richard Kind
    • Max Klein
    • Director
      • Ben Affleck
    • Writers
      • Chris Terrio
      • Tony Mendez
      • Joshuah Bearman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews987

    7.7652.8K
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    Featured reviews

    9Michael_Elliott

    One of the Smartest Thrillers in Years

    Argo (2012)

    **** (out of 4)

    Excellent thriller based around the secret CIA mission to try and rescue six Americans hiding out in Iran shortly after the hostage crisis broke out. CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) decides to hatch a plot to make a fake movie and get the six out. It's only early November as I write this but I'm going to make a bold prediction that ARGO hears its name called out quite a few times come Oscar night. Director Affleck has once again created an incredibly well-made, incredibly tense and downright entertaining thriller that works on all levels and really comes across as something special. We've seen hostage movies before and we've seen political movies before but there's never been anything quite like ARGO. Thank God it's based on a true story or else who would believe this story? The secret mission of the CIA is just so incredible that it has to be true and using the Hollywood backdrop just makes for some pretty fun scenes and especially when you know a couple of the names like Oscar-winner John Chambers. The actual look of the film is quite striking as you certainly feel as if you're in the middle of the 1979-80 time period. Affleck has a great eye for the style of the picture and the cross between the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and some of 8 and 16mm footage. The performances are also another major plus with Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman and Bryan Cranston all doing terrific work. Each and every actor no matter how small or major their part really comes across terrific and this helps brings so much credit to the story. I'm certainly not going to ruin the final thirty-minutes but they'll have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. After GONE BABY GONE and THE TOWN, Affleck had certainly put his name on the map for young directors and now ARGO just takes that to a new level. This here is certainly one of the best movies of the year and one of the smartest and most intelligent thrillers in a very long time.
    8auuwws

    Argo

    An excellent movie, although I did not know the events of the storming of the American embassy in Iran, but the story of the film was very interesting and the level of representation in the film was excellent, the film made me on the edge of the chair of suspense I highly recommend watching it
    CalRhys

    Intense Film Packed With Emotion

    Argo is the political thriller based on the 1979 Iranian hostage situation in which 6 Americans were left to fend for themselves in the centre of Tehran. CIA Operative Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) is sent into Iran to evacuate the Americans out safely under the cover of being a film production crew working on a picture called 'Argo'.

    The film is absolutely amazing and definitely one of the best films I've seen in a long time, throughout 2012 and 2013 so far we have been treated with some great films such as Skyfall, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty and more, but in my own personal opinion Argo takes the bait as the best of them all. Proof is present as it won 3 BAFTA's for best picture, best director and best editing, also nominated for a further 8 Oscars in 85th Academy Awards.

    The film is packed with a sense of threat, peril and intensity all portrayed exceptionally well through the ensemble cast including Ben Affleck (The Town), John Goodman (Big Lebowski), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Alan Arkin (Edward Scissorhands) and Victor Garber (Titanic). The ending is by far the most intense ending I have seen in a long time, visually presented in such an astounding way.

    Director Ben Affleck started out his auteur career after his directional debut Gone Baby Gone became critically acclaimed, three years later The Town came out with an Oscar nomination. Now 2 years on we have Argo, Affleck's best film by far.
    8bkoganbing

    Hollywood Hyperbole

    Ben Affleck who originally got acclaim for his collaboration with best bud Matt Damon on Good Will Hunting, went out gloriously alone and came back with a Best Picture Oscar for Argo, the story of one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated in the last century or even in the short time this century has been around. I'm sure Matt Damon would love to have had a piece of this one.

    Based on writings of CIA operative Tony Mendez who engineered the escape of six American diplomats who were lucky enough to get out of Iran during the Ayatollah Khomeini craziness during the Iran hostage crisis, Affleck who sports a heavy beard that makes him totally unrecognizable as Affleck, but no doubt Mendez had such a growth. Only the voice lets you know from time to time that it is Affleck.

    Our protagonist has a history of pulling off good intelligence coups and he's given an assignment by his superiors. When they learn that the American diplomats are hiding at the Canadian ambassador's home he has to devise a scheme to get them out. He's one of several people put on this problem. His solution is to appeal to the Iranian's sense of celebrity. Affleck creates the cover story of a movie being shot in Iran, a science fiction spectacular like Star Wars and these folks were there scouting locations in the desert. Hollywood contacts John Goodman and Alan Arkin were most helpful, their sense of Hollywood hyperbole comes in handy. In fact both make several jokes about the movie capital. Arkin got a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

    Of course we know what happened. I remember the news breaking that the Canadians had gotten these diplomats out who should have been hostages along with the others. The Iranians huffed and puffed and vowed divine retribution on Canada for aiding the Great Satan. It all came to naught however.

    Argo which is the title of the pretend science fiction epic so far represents the summit of Ben Affleck's career. Why he did not get nominated for Best Actor and Director is quite beyond me if the Academy thought the film that good. Now that the story is declassified we now see that the CIA can occasionally get it right.
    8macktan894

    Quite suspenseful!

    Ben Affleck continues hitting them out of the park. Based on a true story, Argo re-enacts the events that freed American foreign service employees from their hideout in the Canadian Embassy. The setup involves Affleck's character, Mendes, putting together the cover story of a Canadian film crew scouting locations in the Mideast for a sci-fi movie. Alan Arkin & John Goodman are hilarious as Hollywood hotshots producing this surefire scifi hit. The process follows Mendes as he enters Iran and has to BS his way to some skeptical and hostile Iranian theocrats who almost don't know how to respond to the possibility of a scifi movie set in Iran. Mendes must also deal with frightened and reluctant Americans who are being forced out in the open to pose as a movie crew. Affleck does a good job of injecting suspense and dread all through this section.

    But the real nail biter is their exit from Iran. As in other movies of this ilk, the chase heats up with the Iranians on the heels of the Americans. Affleck throws into this chase a huge boulder of an obstacle when President Carter pulls the plug on the film crew ex-filtration & decides to go with Delta soldiers instead. If you want to know what happens, I advise you to see the movie or read the news accounts.

    This just goes to show you that not all CIA covert actions are led by armed fighters like Jason Bourne and launched by the Treadstone department. Affleck's character doesn't even carry a gun--he carries a script instead.

    Oscars Best Picture Winners, Ranked

    Oscars Best Picture Winners, Ranked

    See the complete list of Oscars Best Picture winners, ranked by IMDb ratings.
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In an interview with Piers Morgan, former President Jimmy Carter said that he believes the film was a "great drama", and it deserved to win an Oscar for best film. However, Carter noted that although "ninety percent of the contributions to the ideas, and the consummation of the plan was Canadian", the film "gives almost full credit to the American C.I.A. With that exception, the movie's very good," Carter said, but "the main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor, who was the Canadian ambassador, who orchestrated the entire process."
    • Goofs
      It is stated that the British and New Zealand embassies refused to help staff from the American embassy. This was not true. Both the British and the New Zealand embassies sheltered the Americans, then helped to pass them on to the Canadians. Britain's Arthur Wyatt was later awarded the Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for the risks that he took.
    • Quotes

      LA Times Reporter: What does the title refer to?

      Lester Siegel: The Argo. You know, it's the thing.

      LA Times Reporter: Like Jason and the Golden Fleece, or what?

      Lester Siegel: No, no. It's the ship. It's the spaceship. It goes everywhere. It goes all throughout space.

      LA Times Reporter: So, it's Argonaut.

      Lester Siegel: No.

      LA Times Reporter: What does Argo mean?

      Lester Siegel: I don't know.

      LA Times Reporter: You don't know?

      Lester Siegel: It means "Argo fuck yourself."

    • Crazy credits
      Past the photos of cast members and the real people they play, there's audio from an interview with then-President Jimmy Carter talking about the crisis.
    • Alternate versions
      After it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the postscript at the end credits was changed because it was felt that it slighted Canada's involvement in the rescue of the American hostages.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.11 (2012)
    • Soundtracks
      Upside Down
      from In the Valley of Elah (2007)

      Written by Mark Isham

      Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc./Summit Entertainment, LLC

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    FAQ29

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 12, 2012 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Languages
      • English
      • Persian
      • German
      • Arabic
    • Also known as
      • Escape from Tehran
    • Filming locations
      • Istanbul, Turkey
    • Production companies
      • Warner Bros.
      • GK Films
      • Smokehouse Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $44,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $136,025,503
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $19,458,109
      • Oct 14, 2012
    • Gross worldwide
      • $232,325,503
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • SDDS
      • Datasat
      • Dolby Digital
      • Dolby Atmos
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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