It’s Time to Take Ben Affleck Seriously as a Director
Is Argo that good? Yes and no. Affleck takes substantial liberties with the story of the bizarre rescue of six American hostages who were separated from the rest in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis in Tehran, and all three of his films (the others are Gone Baby Gone and The Town) end melodramatically. Still, Argo is hugely entertaining, with a smart script and a deft sense of humor.
Affleck the actor (he probably should have cast someone less lackluster in the lead) plays Tony Mendez, a CIA agent at Langley and a specialist in “exfiltration.” He rejects several possible solutions to the problem of how to save six U.S. Embassy employees in Tehran who sneaked out the back when angry ayatollah-loving revolutionaries demanding the return of the U.S.-backed shah of Iran stormed the compound and took 52 Americans hostage. (The 52 eventually returned safely, more than a year later, by which time President Jimmy Carter was seen as hopelessly weak and Ronald Reagan had just been sworn in.)
The subgroup of six hid out in the home of the Canadian ambassador but couldn’t come up with a plausible reason to leave the country without being detected and arrested. Mendez, back in Virginia, thinks outside the box. Way outside the box. He suggests papers be forged to indicate that the six had been in the country for just a couple of days — and had arrived to scout locations for a schlocky Star Wars ripoff called Argo.
Affleck has a lot of fun with late-70s L.A., and he clearly is more interested in showbiz than in international politics. The Hollywood sign in the hills was crumbling and forgotten, and a makeup man (John Goodman) whose credits include a Planet of the Apes movie serves as an introduction to several cynical, wily, loveable characters including a caustic producer (Alan Arkin). Told that the CIA needs him for a mission involving “the worst place you can think of,” Goodman’s character replies, “Universal City.” As for Mendez’s cover story of being a small-time producer, Goodman says, “You want to come to Hollywood and act like a big shot without actually doing anything. You’ll fit right in.”
I’ll definitely see the film, being Canadian and all
However, Canadians who have seen it are complaining that (as usual — sorry you guys),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_%28film%29
the Americans are taking credit for a historical circumstance in which they played a lesser role.
The snotty (original) postscript’s implication that Ambassador Taylor doesn’t deserve the hundreds of honors he was awarded for his role in “the Canadian caper” sounded to me like a particularly low blow.
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/09/07/homemade-vs-hollywood-les-harris-beat-ben-affleck-to-argos-story-long-ago/
Being Canadian, Taylor has been pretty forgiving however and has prompted Affleck to back track a bit, as well as alter the postscript.
http://www.cp24.com/affleck-lauds-taylor-at-reception-for-film-argo-1.990369
I’m still not pleased that it took a bunch of complaints to get Affleck to tell the truth.
I tend not to watch movies that re-write history.
Yes, you will know more about history if you don’t watch this crap.
More to the point, how many know that Huma Abedin, the most dangerous Muslim Brotherhood operative in the U.S. (Deputy Chief-of-Staff to Hillary Clinton…and so much more!),was his adviser? And, that the State Dept & the CIA were on stand by for input?
I kid you not.
Wanna know about Humala, start here – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/07/28/update-huma-abedins-familial-muslim-brotherhoodsisterhood-tree-gains-another-root-addendum-to-huma-abedin-deputy-cos-to-hillary-clinton-inextricably-tied-to-muslim-brotherhoodsisterhood/
Much more where this came from….
Who. cares. I could die very happy never hearing about Ben Affleck or seeing more press on Ben Affleck.
Agreed.
First, read Mendez’s book, “Master Of Disguise”.
Then, remember that a Hollywood movie will always remain a Hollywood movie with pictorial enhancements and modified scripts to adapt to a different medium, with the intent of further monetizing (read: milking) an already good account from the organizer-participant.
The Customer becomes then a manipulated commodity.
As I said in the other thread, his book Argo is the source material. http://www.amazon.com/Argo-Hollywood-Pulled-Audacious-History/dp/0670026220/ref=la_B001HCW9MM_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350103449&sr=1-1
At least that’s what Mendez says.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/308318-1
I’m sincerely skeptical that most of the posters who wrap themselves in the sanctity of history have any knowledge of the events depicted in the movie, and since all of them claim not only that they haven’t seen the movie but that they will not see the movie, they obviously have no knowledge of whether the movie depicts those events acurately, what credence should be given to their opinions as regards the movie?
Readers can make up their minds on that issue for themselves, but I must say you guys are behaving like liberals in the extent of your discrediting close-mindedness.
I’ll permit myself to be drawn into a pissing contest with you….. even if you lived through that awful time, as I did….and much, much earlier times…… only to the extent to mutter here that unless this Hollywood movie is billed as a bona fide documentary, it is indeed nothing but a Hollywood movie, albeit with a fascinating plot.
To me, this commercial Ben Afleck is on a par with Mel Gibson. That’s not a compliment.
If this movie has Mendez’s endorsement, fine, it’s his material, not mine…I hope he makes lots of money, he himself is indeed a genuine American hero who needs to be well sung. But, ever since I read his much earlier book, “Master of Disguise”, in 2000 or so, on the recommendation of a friend who was a direct participant, I’ll always take the earlier book, by a decade, as the “source material”.
If you read that earlier book of his, you’ll come away with even more respect for Mendez.
I will not go to the movies until they run all the Liberals out of Hollywood. Why should I?
Your loss. It’s a good film of a great story.
no, its civilization’s loss. Keep pumping money into the propaganda machine known as hollywood and watch society disintegrate
Am I to understand by your remark that on principle you do not go to movies, watch tv, buy or rent DVDs, ever?
Interesting if true.
Ad Hominem:
You read like a troll.
It’s easier than you think.
Once you’re off the couch, you find there’s so much else you could be doing.
Ben Affleck finds David Petraeus remarkable, is buddies with Huma Abedin
“Petraeus was actually on hand, attending an event at the Canadian Embassy and then watching the film alongside other prominent Washingtonians at the movie theater in Chinatown. Also in the crowd were “Argo” cast members John Goodman and Bryan Cranston, along with former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife, State Department official Huma Abedin. Affleck explained why he invited his “good friend” Abedin, who in turn brought along her husband. “The reason why she is here, is she was instrumental in helping us shoot at the State Department,” Affleck said. “As you noticed, we shot at the real State Department … our production designers were allowed to go inside and look at the seventh floor and recreate it.”
nope–hes just another pretentious lib
not much talent and a whole lot of attitude
I don’t understand these denunciations by people who haven’t even seen Argo.
I lived thru that era. Carter turned my family of life-long Democrats in the Southern tradition to staunch Republicans. I can still remember the unspeakable frustration we felt with such a moronic dufus in the WH, the palpable rage at Desert 1.
I drove 30 mi to see Argo today. I think Affleck did a fine job telling the story of Tony Mendez’ courage and tpwering sense of duty to 6 people he never met before. I saw the interview with Janna and Tony Mendez on C-SPAN last weekend. They have no quarrel with the realization of the drama. It’s an inherently dramatic and suspensful tale told with pitch-perfect sense.
In a case of life imitating art, who could know when this film was scheduled to roll out that we’d be in the grip of a repugnantly weak and feckless Democratic administration? Affleck should send a thank you note to Obama for providing such a vivid reminder in Libya of why Democrats should never, NEVER, be allowed in the White House again.
I am boycotting most of hollywood actors and directors for the political interference. Chris Dodd president of the motion picture academy is another reason to boycott the box office. Also , it was a hollywood director collaberation on a lying political obama ad and those ads constantly run in Florida.
Boycotting is easy , strict budge at my house. Had not been to the theater in
12 yrs but did get a reduced priced afternoon matinee to go see 2016 obama’s america.
I’ve never quite understood the complaint that Hollywood doesn’t represent history properly. *All* history is to some degree a distillation of past reality: there’s never been a case where a history of something didn’t exclude a detail, an incident, a character, that the author didn’t find trivial or irrelevant. Movies, in contrast to books, are much more restricted in size, and limited in scope. You *must* edit things out of the story, simplify or compress events, etc., or you’ll wind up with an 11-hour masterpiece no one watches (if it isn’t longer). As a result, history-as-a-movie will inevitably be about what the moviemaker chooses to include, and what he chooses to emphasize. It’s the way it is.
We’re about to see a better example of this when the Spielburg production of Lincoln hits theaters around Christmas time. I’ve already heard people complain that Daniel Day Lewis doesn’t sound right as Lincoln, because everyone’s used to someone with a deep, resonant voice reading Lincoln’s speeches, wearing a beard with no mustache. In actual point of fact, Lincoln wasn’t considered a good speaker in his day, with a high, reedy voice that was rather weak, and a folksy accent that convinced Easterners he was a rube–at least until they heard him give an actual, serious speech on a serious topic. Then everyone was impressed with his command of the issues at hand, and his determination to do the right thing. His personality overwhelmed his voice, and made his commitment to the issue obvious.
Regardless of the above, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 900+ Pulitzer-prize-winning history of the Lincoln administration isn’t going to fit into a 2-3 hour movie comfortably. They must have left much of the book out. It’s inevitable. And it’s inevitable that what they leave in, and take out, will make the movie the subject of criticism–some of it may be mine, even. But it’s ridiculous to imagine that the whole book could be in a movie–a TV miniseries, perhaps, but not a movie that plays in theaters.
Just not possible…
Speaking on behalf of the history field, most feel that Goodwin’s Team of Rivals is a joke. Lincoln was not a saint nor a genius, just a master orator and manipulator. When it all comes down to brass tacks, there is this tendency to want to superimpose our current political beliefs into the past, and in the case of the 19th century, both parties were so far-removed from what we know today that historical reality is simply not acceptable. Lincoln is one of those figures whose demigod status will prevent him from ever having an accurate portrayal ever made into a feature film. That Daniel Day Lewis has attempted to mimic Lincoln’s voice is admirable but not significant – John Adams spoke with a lisp and George Patton had a grandmotherly voice, yet their biopics were good nevertheless.
While I agree that Ben Affleck has some directoral talent, I am wary about liberal preaching and distortion. I don’t mind a few historical half-truths here and there, but Hollywood is most damaging when it tells stories people are generally not intimately familiar with.
Hard to take a person seriously who is a mega millionaire and HUGE Capitalist but votes for and supports Socialists like Obama and other democrats who make it harder for us to get rich like them. I can’t stand Affleck because like most celebrities he hasn’t a clue politically speaking. He obviously doesn’t pay attention to current events, politics, and news.
There is all the difference in the world between condensing the narrative simply and altering it to suit, making things up out of whole cloth.
In The Patriot, Mel Gibson depicts British soldiers committing atrocities they never would have dreamed of doing. That’s just one example.
99% of people have never heard of Doris Kearns Goodwin. They think The DaVinci Code is a documentary.
This former Air America employee who worked in Laos thinks that Mel Gibson is a typical Hollywood monetizing opportunist, totally without shame. While he was in the process of making that damaging travesty of an adolescent fantasy-movie named “Air America” our pilots and flight crews offered him technical advice which he refused on the basis that he was not making a documentary. Fair enough, in and of itself.
But…..good grief…. what came out of that production-effort was an extremely falsified (but attractive to adolescents) movie-tale about wild derring-do and drug running in Laos which was a horrific disservice to those Air America flight crews who sacrificed their lives aiding the war against Communism but who were unable to talk about it.
For post Church Committee Hearing details given by still living aircrew members go to , specifically scroll down to “Features” and have a good browse.
Elsewhere I’ve expressed my scorn for Hollywood in general, but any mention of Mel Gibson triggers condensed contempt, hence subsequent efforts by the likes of this Ben Affleck fall under the heading of Caveat Emptor…..but try telling that to the legions of hopeless young romantics who’re too willing to believe anything they see on a movie screen or today’s hand held devices.
P.T.Barnum had no idea.
This site’s filter prohibited the website address as I typed it just above, so go to “airdashamericadotorg” without the quotes.
I’ll probably wait and see it when it comes out on DVD/NETFLIX.
Somebody mentioned the failed Desert 1 under Carter. I met an individual who was part of an advance team in-country for the mission. When the Desert 1 mission failed he was left high and dry with no way out of the country. I always thought his story of how he and a couple of others got out would make a great movie.
Just saw the film and it was fantastic. I hadn’t heard of it until I read this piece this morning and decided to run up to my local AMC to catch it. For once the critics are spot on. This is a taut, compelling dramatization of actual events. Despite the fact that we all know the Americans get out, the tension never lets up and there’s no anti-Americanism or liberal agenda in this film. The good guys—the embassy workers, the Canadian ambassador and his wife who hid them for over two months, and the CIA who eventually get them out—are depicted as such. Affleck assembled an incredible pool of acting talent and they are at the top of their game. What was most affecting about this film, however, was seeing the actual historical footage of not just the embassy takeover but the reaction of Americans to the event. Americans in 1979 didn’t just tie yellow ribbons around trees; they were pissed off at what happened. They were protesting outside the Iranian embassy and beating up Iranian passers-by. News crews interviewed a young high school aged male and he was asking why those who stormed the embassy hadn’t been shot and all this friends nodded in agreement. Contrast that visceral reaction to the sound of silence that accompanied the murder or our ambassador in Libya. High school boys today probably don’t know where the Middle East or Iran is, may not even know what an ambassador is, and the average joe just shrugs his shoulders and moves on. America is a very different country from what it was in 1980.
Ben Affleck was on Bill Maher show last night which I only watched to see Ann Coulter. Ben came off as a tongue tied lib. Not too coherent though Argo shows he knows how to make coherent movies. Ben Affleck has an obvious work ethic, lives a sober conservative lifestyle (for Hollywood) with three children and a loyal wife. He just has to extend what he does within his family to what he thinks about society and our capitalist economic system. As of now he is out campaigning for (fake Indian) Elizabeth Warren which must mean he is voting 0bama again.
I prefer to observe paint drying on a wall to anything the Liberalistas of Hoolyweird produce.
bengie afflack…please!
bah, bah, bah – sheeple watching the lib pig’s movie. Animal Farm has come to life. Keep supporting your own destruction by the likes of Affleckpig, Obamapig, Bidenpig, msnbcpig, hollywoodpig, etc. Off to the glue factory with you already. All animals are created equal, only some are more equal than others, when you allow them to be.
These people have declared war on you. What part of that do you not understand?
I despise Hollywood libs like Affleck fawning over Obama.
Having said that I did NOT know that Affleck directed “Good Will Hunting”
A great movie made superb by another lefty loon.. Robin Williams.