It didn’t seem like a good idea at all. Rescuing six American diplomats – Bob Anders, Mark Lijek, Cora Lijek, Joseph Stafford, Kathleen Stafford and Lee Schatz – from right under the nose of the Iranians in the middle of a revolution spanning 444 days in which 52 other American hostages had been captured, was a proposition that bordered on the impossible.

And when CIA exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez suggested creating a fake Hollywood science fiction movie, posing as its producer who is scouting for locations, flying in solo to Tehran and flying out with the six Americans pretending to be his crew, the proposition turned ridiculous. But then again, some propositions are so ridiculous, they can only be a success.