Hollywood, as usual, takes many liberties with the true story.

I was sitting at a Toronto bar during cocktail hour when the news of the hostage rescue took place; so, naturally, being on a business trip out of my Chicago headquarters and the only U.S. citizen in the place, I bought drinks for the entire house in order to show my appreciation to the Canadians. When I returned from the trip my generous employer reimbursed me for the tab.

At the time we received the TV news the bar patrons, including myself, thought the rescue was arranged by Ken Taylor, where in the film, Mendez receives most of the credit. Until I recently watched the film, I thought the hero was Ken Taylor, a native of Toronto.

A day later, I discussed the rescue of the six Canadians and six Americans with singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, whom I had met on a previous trip to Toronto (I traveled there often because I had an employee based in that great city). We both agreed that Ken Taylor was the mastermind. After that, I often thought about the rescue and the bar celebration, but never questioned the details of the actual event.

Will someone please give me a clue? I'm surprised Gordon never wrote a song about the incident.