Argo Page #4

58 INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER 58

They enter to find: ADAM ENGELL, 40s or 50s, Deputy

Chief of Operations, hosting visitors from the State

Department:
PENDER and BATES from State. The State guys

are both dressed better than the CIA guys, except for

Engell.

Other CIA Operations OFFICERS and ANALYSTS sit in

audience.

ENGELL:

Okay. This is Bob Pender from

State O.S. He.’s been talking to

Morgan at ExtAff.

GENCO, a State Department Assistant, removes a drape from

the photographs of SIX FACES, State Department I.D.

photos. Pender indicates the first two photos -- and

during this, we may flash to scenes of the Houseguests in

the Canadian ambassador.’s residence --

PENDER:

Mark and Cora Lijek, 29 and 25.

He.’s a consular officer and she.’s

an assistant. Newlyweds. They

just got there a couple of months

ago. No language skills or incountry

knowledge.

(re:
the next photo)

Henry Lee Schatz. Agricultural

attache from Idaho. He was there

to sell U.S. tractors to Iranian

agro. Hid out with the Swedes

during the takeover then made his

way to join the others with the

Canadians.

(re:
next photo)

Joe Stafford. Late twenties.

He.’s smart and a climber. Speaks

Farsi. Arranged the hire of his

wife Kathy --

BATES:

Understaffed so the faculty wives

were the typing pool.

That goes without comment in this room of men.

PENDER:

(then, finally)

Bob Anders. Senior consular

officer, oldest of the group.

Most likely to be group leader.

So.

ARGO - Final 18.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

(now, shifting gears)

What we like for this are

bicycles. We.’ve identified

backroads from the Shemiran

district -- a couple of rat lines

through the mountains to the

crossing at Tabriz. Cars are off

the table because of the

roadblocks.

Pender nods to Bates, who goes to a map, indicating the

north of Iran.

BATES:

We wait till the weather clears up

then we deliver six bikes and

provide maps to the Turkish

border.

PENDER:

We have intelligence they can ride

bicycles. Or we.’re prepared to

send in somebody to teach them.

The professional spies shifting at the stupidity of it.

But nobody speaks up. And then --

MENDEZ:

You can send in training wheels

and wait at the border with

Gatorade.

Attention turns to Mendez. O.’Donnell shifts. Engell,

not happy.

MENDEZ:

It.’s 300 miles to the Turkish

crossings. They.’d need a support

crew behind them with a tire pump.

ENGELL:

(directed at Mendez)

We.’ve only been asked to

sharpshoot this, State.’s

handling the op.

PENDER:

Who is --

O.’DONNELL

Tony.’s an exfil spesh. He got a

lot of the shah.’s people out after

the fall.

ARGO - Final 19.

58 CONTINUED:
58

PENDER (CONT'D)

(CONTINUED)

MENDEZ:

(to Pender)

If these people can read OR add,

any minute they.’re gonna figure

out they.’re six short of a full

deck. It.’s winter. You wanna

wait around for a nice spring day

for bike rides?

(a beat)

The only way out.’s through the

airport. You build them new

identities, a Moses goes in, takes

them out on a commercial flight.

BATES:

We.’re exploring that

option.

ENGELL:

They wouldn.’t clear airport

control. Komiteh own the

place.

BATES:

They would pose as reporters. The

government issued 70-something --

Jumping in--MARIO MALINOV, 30s, an ambitious Bulgarian

CIA analyst, Bronx Science and MIT, raised in Queens,

BATES:

-- visas for American

journalists.

MALINOV:

74.

MALINOV:

And the Revolutionary Guards keep

them on 74 leashes.

MENDEZ:

They get caught with journalist

creds, you.’ve got Peter Jennings

with a noose around his neck in an

hour.

PAUL LAMONT, late 20s, a Master.’s from the Woodrow Wilson

School before he joined CIA --

LAMONT:

World Noose Tonight.

Pender looks at Bates, who is trying to impress his boss.

BATES:

North American accents give us

limited options. So we get the

Canadians to issue them

passports...

ARGO - Final 20.

58 CONTINUED:
(2) 58

(CONTINUED)

GENCO:

English teachers from the

international school. Tested

model. It.’s worked before.

MENDEZ:

The school was shut eight months

ago.

Bates, meanwhile, removing a binder from his accordion

folder:
in the binder, a photograph of an emaciated kid

in Namibia.

BATES:

So do-gooders. They.’re six

Canadians who.’ve been over there

inspecting crops. Making sure the

kids get enough to eat. Get them

creds for an AG NGO --

But he.’s already lost Mendez, who is going through a

newspaper on the table.

BATES:

A Feed the Children thing --

O.S. can make binders with

starving kids --

MALINOV:

These kids are black.

These are African kids.

LAMONT:

Are there starving kids in

Iran?

GENCO:

We can get ethnically

appropriate kids.

PENDER:

I.’m sure there.’s skinny

kids...

ROSSI:

A logo with... seeds.

.‘Seeds of Hope.’...

Mendez holds a page from the newspaper up to Pender.

MENDEZ:

What do you see in the picture,

sir?

A beat. Pender doesn.’t like this, but he.’ll play.

PENDER:

Tehran.

MENDEZ:

What.’s on the ground?

PENDER:

Snow.

ARGO - Final 21.

58 CONTINUED:
(3) 58

(CONTINUED)

MENDEZ:

So what crops are the do-gooders

inspecting under Frosty?

Pender shifts.

MENDEZ:

Exfils are like abortions. You

don.’t wanna need one, but when you

do, you don.’t do it yourself.

The meeting is breaking up. Pender, followed by Bates,

leaves the room. Engell, who has just been made to look

bad and inherited a problem, stops by Tony.

ENGELL:

(to Mendez)

You have a better plan?

Mendez doesn.’t respond.

ENGELL:

Get one. *

58A-59 OMITTED 58A-59

60 INT. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR.’S RESIDENCE - DINING ROOM - 60

NIGHT:

At dinner around a dining room table: the SIX

HOUSEGUESTS; KEN TAYLOR, 40s, Canadian ambassador. He

does much to support the myth that Canadians are always

in a good mood. Next to him is PAT TAYLOR, Filipino,

40s. We.’re joining various conversations, including one

with LEE SCHATZ, 29, an American agricultural attache,

the sixth escapee we heard about.

TAYLOR:

-- Martin was the worst one.

Martin the Maximo King --

PAT TAYLOR:

(to Lee Schatz)

-- he looked like a cartoon witch

doctor, bone through his nose, so

she asked to take her picture with

him --

Joe Stafford, keeping to himself.

KATHY STAFFORD:

(to Joe Stafford)

You okay?

ARGO - Final 22.

58 CONTINUED:
(4) 58

(CONTINUED)

CORA LIJEK:

-- if your family.’s hungry, you

don.’t want to hear about

international law --

MARK LIJEK:

And she.’s off! Defending

them again -- Stockholm

Syndrome --

CORA LIJEK:

Not defending. Explaining.

MARK LIJEK:

Same thing.

The sound of a fork on a glass. Ken Taylor is standing *

up.

TAYLOR:

I read today that Tehran was voted

the second most desirable city in

the world to live in. Everywhere

else tied for first.

(toast)

To getting through ten weeks. To

our guests.

LEE SCHATZ:

(raising his glass)

Our hosts. Mr. Ambassador...

BOB ANDERS:

Hear, hear...

CORA LIJEK:

And Mrs.

But the liquid in their wine glasses is beginning to

shake. The noise of a HELICOPTER. Taylor tries to be

pleasant.

TAYLOR:

You should get into the crawl *

space.

61-67 OMITTED 61-67

68 INT. MENDEZ.’S CAR - NIGHT 68

Mendez listens to the radio as he drives home along the

bridge, the Jefferson Memorial beyond.

NEWSCASTER (V.O.)

The White House Christmas tree was

taken down today after never

having been lit, as the cruel

stalemate in Iran continues.

ARGO - Final 23.

60 CONTINUED:
60

(CONTINUED)

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