2. The Original A-Team Rescues U.S. Hostages From Iran

In 1978, when Iran was openly anti-American, two representatives of a U.S.-based electronics company were thrown in jail for (probably) fake bribery and money laundering charges. Luckily, their boss was Ross Perot – the insane, wealthy, incredibly influential war veteran who didn’t take kindly to his employees being taken into custody. When diplomacy failed, Perot decided to break Chiapparone and Gaylorbust out of prison without government help.

Remember how we said that real life isn’t anything like a Hollywood movie? Well, that is a rule but this guy is the exception. Ross Perot called in his network of old army buddies to assemble a vigilante strike team, rescue the hostages and drive off into the sunset.

reuters.com

Using intelligence he gathered by posing as a journalist, the former Commando constructed a detailed mock-up of the prison his employees were sent to. The strike team practiced storming it for weeks to plan out the perfect jailbreak. However, after he smuggled an arsenal and an armored truck into Iran, the hostages were transferred to another location.

At that point Perot could regrouped to come up with a new action plan or improvise some crazy idea and hope to beat the odds. Naturally, a few hours later, he organized a riot to distract the Iranians. Amid the resulting chaos, the team swooped in to grab Gaylord and Chiapparone.