MAY 26 • 2022 | 61
TOP GUN, AGAIN; A
MYSTERY, A MEMOIR AND
MINCEMEAT FICTIONS
Top Gun: Maverick opens
in theaters on May 27. It is
a sequel to Top Gun (1986),
a huge box-office hit that
starred Tom Cruise as Pete
“Maverick” Mitchell, a stu-
dent at the Navy’s fighter
pilot school. The sequel finds
Maverick (Cruise) leading a
group of recent pilot school
graduates on a secret, very
dangerous mission.
Jennifer Connelly, 51,
plays Penny, Maverick’s love
interest. Penny’s a single
mother, bar owner and the
daughter of a former admiral.
Connelly, who won a best
supporting actress Oscar
for A Beautiful Mind (2001),
is the daughter of a Jewish
mother and not-Jewish father.
She’s always been secular.
Tom Cruise is 59 but looks
about 50. Still, I am sure
that everyone connected
with the film realized that
even a 50-year-old fighter
pilot is improbable. Also,
the Maverick character was
originally written as a full-of-
himself, “cheeky bad boy”
who wooed the strait-laced
(female) flight instructor at the
flight school. Can Cruise be
that guy again?
Connelly was a good
casting choice. She’s a strik-
ingly attractive woman at 51.
Penny and Maverick’s rela-
tionship is age-appropriate,
but still potentially “hot.” You
have to figure that Penny, the
daughter of an admiral, and
a bar owner, is prepared to
banter with the “still-cheeky”
Maverick as they “do the
dance” of a movie romance.
Just being in such a romance
makes Cruise seem younger
and “cheekier.”
Bosch a series about Harry
Bosch, an LAPD detective,
streamed on Amazon Prime
from 2014-2021. A spin-off,
titled Bosch: Legacy, began
streaming on May 6 on the
newish IMDB streaming
service (free, with ads). In
Legacy, Bosch is retired from
the LAPD and is working as
an investigator for Honey
Chandler, a defense attorney.
Mimi Rogers, 66, co-stars
as Chandler. Born Miriam
Spickler, Rogers is the daugh-
ter of a Jewish father and
non-Jewish mother. She was
raised a Scientologist. She
broke with them about 15
years ago. By the way, it was
Rogers who introduced Tom
Cruise to Scientology while
they were married (1987-89).
She left; he never did.
Mean Baby, a memoir by
Detroit-area native Selma
Blair, has got a lot of media
coverage. But do read,
online, a May 15 interview
with the NY Times Book
Review. The actress talks
about what it meant to
her to record The Diary of
Anne Frank. The well-read
Blair mentions a lot of other
“tribe members” in the same
interview: Primo Levi, Todd
Soldonz, A.O. Scott, Melissa
and Joan Rivers, and Carrie
Fisher.
THE REAL OPERATION
MINCEMEAT
Operation Mincemeat is an
original Netflix film that is
now streaming. It’s about a
(real) British intelligence oper-
ation during WWII that saved
thousands of lives. Colin
Firth plays Ewen Montagu
(1901-1985), a naval intelli-
gence officer who played
a central role in Operation
Mincemeat. Montagu
belonged to one of the
most famous British Jewish
families and was very active
in the Jewish community.
Montagu was a top barrister
before joining British Naval
Intelligence in 1938.
I didn’t write about
Mincemeat before I saw
it because some advance
reviews referred to
Montagu’s wife as Jewish.
I thought perhaps the film
had erased Montagu’s own
Jewish identity. Not quite so.
In an early scene, Montagu
is sending his wife and kids
to Canada. He says he is
doing so because of the
potential Nazi danger to
“a Jewish family.” It’s a bit
unclear, but viewers proba-
bly “get it” that Montagu is
Jewish, too. This scene is the
only Jewish reference in the
film.
The “real” Operation
Mincemeat was a highly dra-
matic operation. It had the
built-in drama of a prominent
Jew leading an anti-Nazi
operation. But that wasn’t
enough for the screenwrit-
ers. Below are the biggest
inaccuracies in the film. Don’t
read them if you want to
watch the film first. But do
watch the film, in any event.
Here are the top four
made-up things, as compiled
by the Deadline website:
1) Admiral Godfrey (played
by Jason Isaacs, 58), is
Montagu’s superior officer.
He’s against Mincemeat until
it succeeds. Truth: Godfrey
wasn’t against Mincemeat
and left for other duties
months before Mincemeat
concluded.
2) Montagu’s closest col-
league, Chas. Cholmondeley,
spies on Montagu for British
intelligence. In return, high-
er-ups bring back his soldier
brother’s body from Burma,
where he served. Truth:
Cholmondeley didn’t spy on
Montagu and his brother was
killed after Mincemeat.
3.) Joan Leslie is an
essential member of the
Mincemeat team. She and
Montagu were at the edge of
having an affair. Truth: Leslie
had only a peripheral role
in Mincemeat. Montagu did
not hide his friendship with
Leslie. He told his wife, via
letters, about it.
4) Montagu’s brother,
Ivor, is suspected of being
a Communist. He lives in
Ewan’s house. Truth: Ivor
was an open Communist, not
shocking in the UK in 1943.
Ivor lived with his wife, in
their own home.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
KARON LIU
Jennifer
Connelly
JOELLA MARANO
Selma Blair