Why I can't stop watching "Argo."

I’m definitely a movie buff. I’ve often joked that I could’ve been a doctor, but instead filled my brain with sports trivia and movie quotes.

When someone asks what my favorite movie is, the best I can do is narrow it down to a leader in various categories.

Favorite family movie? “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Favorite war movie? “The Great Escape.”

Favorite horror movie? “Halloween (the original one).”

Favorite animated move? “Monsters, Inc.”

Favorite drama? It’s tight between “Apollo 13” and “Thirteen Days.”

Favorite comedy? “Animal House.” Or “Fletch.” Or “Blues Brothers.” Or “Anchorman.”

OK, I struggle on the comedy one.

But, if you asked me what movie I have seen the MOST times, it’s an easy answer:

“Argo.”

A long time ago I bought Argo on our Xfinity OnDemand. On days that I’m working from home, if there’s no sports on and I’m sick of the news, I will often go to “purchases” and watch Argo for the umpteenth time.

Now this isn’t exactly a radical choice. Argo did win Best Picture and Best Screenplay when it came out in 2012 and Ben Affleck – a Mega Star since “Good Will Hunting” was both the lead actor and director.

At the same time, it’s not a quotable comedy. It’s not a popcorn movie with wild chase or fighting scenes. It’s not a traditional thriller with “make you jump” moments.

But still, something about the movie is so familiar and comfortable to me that I keep coming back.

So…why do I keep watching Argo?

I stayed many times at the Beverly Hills Hilton:

Why start here? Honestly, I think this is the biggest reason I love the movie. The scene where Affleck arrives in the hotel’s turnaround, along with the costumed actors for the script reading, is the #1 “can’t miss” scene for me. It just brings back so many memories.

Back in 2001 I was named the National Sales Manager for the media company I worked for. For the first time I had to regularly “hit the road” for business trips.

My first trip was to San Francisco, and I had booked a room at the most affordable hotel I could find. The night I arrived I walked out of my door to find something to eat, only to be driven back into the lobby by the sound of gunshots. I hadn’t really chosen the safest part of town, it turns out.

I shared this with my old boss who said, “look…if I’m going to take you away from your family to go out of town at the very least stay somewhere nice.” I listened.

My next business trip was to Los Angeles and I chose the Beverly Hilton. I have no idea how much per night the rooms were, but man I LOVED that hotel. It’s at the corner of Wilshire and Rodeo; just an iconic spot. I could run out the front door and go on my jog through what I jokingly called the “come as you are” neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, which allowed for awesome window shopping of absurd real estate. There was always the same doorman in the turnaround who was like in his 60’s or 70’s and had been there forever, doing the same job, who knew absolutely everyone. He was an icon.

I also had a few celebrity sightings there. The Golden Globes were filmed in the hotel (another callback to Argo; Alan Arkin says of Warren Beatty, “I took a leak next to him once at the Golden Globes”) and one night I was coming down a hallway as Pam Dawber (Mindy from Mork and Mindy) was coming the other way and I was able to open the door for her. The same thing happened when I saw Sela Ward (Harrison Ford’s wife who gets murdered in “The Fugitive”) coming down the hall. Plus, I had a drink in the lobby with Laura Ingraham, along with some co-workers (we were one of her early media outlets; this was before she got big and…well, changed).

Every time I see that scene in Argo, I get nostalgic. Nostalgic for the team I worked with in LA. Nostalgic for my jogs. Nostalgic for the Dodgers and LA Kings games I went to with work friends. Nostalgic for the view outside the window, the updated rooms and feeling like a bit of a big shot while on the road.

I greeted the hostages when they returned to America:

In January of 1981 I was 11 years old and living in Wilton, Connecticut which I believe was the last stop on the return commuter train from New York City where my dad worked every day.

One morning my parents woke us up early to drive about an hour northwest (I had to go to Google Maps to figure that one out) to Newburgh, New York where the recently freed hostages from Iran were landing on American soil. It was January on the east coast, so of course it was cold. And I remember getting up really early to be a part of the event, but if you know my dad you wouldn’t at all be surprised that he was willing to make the extra effort to secure a memory.

I think there was a lot of yellow: the yellow ribbons had become a symbol of the hostages plight; and we all just lined the streets and waived at these busses as they drove past us. Weird, but I don’t recall us or my parent being disappointed but the brevity of the experience. We didn’t expect more. My parents wanted us to be a part of this historic event and we were. Some forty-plus years later, I’d have to say mission accomplished. It’s a lasting memory. Argo brings that memory back to life.

I dig the look back at the 70’s:

I graduated high school in 1987. I remember seeing photos from the 70’s back then: The long hair, bell bottoms and tight fitting shirts, and thinking, “man…they all look like shit. I’m glad we won’t be some embarrassed when we look back later.”

And now the 1980’s are pretty much the least emulated era of the past century. NO ONE wants to look like the 80’s with the feathered hair, leg warmers and RFTW jump suits. It’s a clown show…and it’s all ours. Conversely, when I visit my daughter at her college campus I see a TON of people rocking some form of the 70’s look.

A few very 70’s things seen in Argo…

· Having just a few TV stations (Affleck’s “Planet of the Apes” call with his kid highlights this)

· The destroyed Hollywood sign (great callback; made everyone Google to see if that really happened)

· Ben rocking the gold chain and open shirt

· Sideburns & mustaches

· Rotary phones/pay phones/calling people and having the phone ring and ring with no voicemail.

· Writing letters and popping them in the mail (actually, it was a postcard!)

· The thick ties and uncomfortable fabric of the Chief of Staff/government worker’s suits

· “Let’s get a drink.”

· The playlist: Dire Straights “Sultans of Swing” and Van Halen’s “Dance the Night Away” just make me happy.

· Lee Majors’ photo on the wall…who doesn’t love the Six Million Dollar Man?

· Just the IDEA that we may all be on the same side of something as a country. I miss that.

Kevin O’Roarke from “Hiding Out” with Jon Cryer is a CIA agent:

Yes, this is exceedingly random…but when I found this out it blew my mind.

If you’re around my age I’m sure you’ll remember the 1987 movie “Hiding Out,” where Jon Cryer is a financial guy who gets in trouble with the mob and decides to take on the identity of a high school student with really weird hair. Well the not quite cliché’ (in the end he’s not a complete dick) High School BMOC in that movie is a character named Kevin O’Roarke, played by the actor Tim Quill. Quill also played a similar role, this time as the college BMOC, in the 1989 Kirk Cameron and Jami Gertz movie, “Listen to Me” (you know, yet another drama about the college debate team. Another cliché’, right?).

If you were buying Hollywood Heartthrob stock as we approached the 90’s you almost certainly would’ve gone long on shares of Tim Quill. But at least from my view, around that time he disappeared. Now checking IMDB he did put together a pretty solid TV career…he kept working…but the Argo big screen appearance came seemingly out of nowhere. Besides that, he looks NOTHING like his younger self with the full-on 1970’s mustache.

Sadly, Tim Quill passed away from cancer in 2017 at the age of 54. Rest in Peace, CIA Agent Alan Sosa.

It didn’t really happen that way…and I don’t care:

I’ve done enough homework on the film to know that a lot of what’s depicted in Argo didn’t actually happen as shown. In particular, the final dramatic airport scene was 100% fabricated. The soldiers never pulled the group into a side room, Joe Stafford never did an elevator pitch of the movie in Farsi using sketches as props and every first responder in Iran didn’t chase the airplane piloted by a completely unaware Swedish pilot rocking a mullet to the end of the runway.

Still, I look at Affleck’s depiction of Argo a little like how I view professional wrestling. Are pro wrestling matches actual battles where the final result is unknown? Of course not. However, are pro wrestlers both amazing athletes and incredibly brave for attempting and executing the moves that they do in the ring? 100% yes.

Similarly, while the aforementioned intense scenes didn’t actually play out, the intensity of the moment I assume was real. The fear while sitting in the airport, waiting to board that plane, was real. The bravery that Tony Mendez showed in leading those US diplomats out of hostile territory was absolutely real. By the way, if you want to get the fully story about what happened here’s the book co-written by Antonion Mendez: Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History

If you decide to read it , drop me a comment and let me know how it is. As for me, I’ll likely just navigate back to my OnDemand “Saved Purchases” over and over again, happily slipping into a Hollywood fantasy that never fails to please. That’s real enough for me.

If you don’t like that, well to quote Ben, Alan and John: “AR GO F&$% YOURSELF!”