The "Canadian Caper" was the popular name given to the joint covert rescue by the Canadian government and the CIA of six American diplomats who had evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, and taking of embassy personnel as hostages by Islamist students and militants on November 4, 1979.
The "caper" involved CIA agents (Tony Mendez and a man known as "Julio") joining the six diplomats to form a fake film crew made up of six Canadians, one Irishman and one Latin American who were finishing scouting for an appropriate location to shoot a scene for the nominal science-fiction film Argo. The ruse was carried off on the morning of Sunday, January 27, 1980, at the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. The eight Americans successfully boarded a Swissair flight to Zurich and escaped Iran. The 2012 film Argo, which won three Academy Awards, and three BAFTA awards including Best Picture, is a fictionalized cinematic representation of the operation, which includes elements of both fact and fiction.
If you have not seen the film yet, and are looking for something to watch over the weekend Argo is definitely worth a watch!
a great film with great music! including some Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, and this little beauty from the Stones!
