JUNE 9 • 2022 | 57

DINOS FICTIONAL AND 
NOT, ALBERT BROOKS 
DOCUMENTARY, THE 
MOST JEWISH WESTERNS

The sixth Jurassic Park 
movie, Jurassic World 
Dominion, opens in the-
aters on June 10. In this 
sequel, humans and dino-
saurs now live near each 
other all over the world and 
the question is: Who will 
emerge as the “apex pred-
ator?” 
The film was directed by 
Colin Trevorrow, 41. He 
also directed the last two 
Jurassic Park films. Both 
grossed well over 
$1 billion at the box office. 
Trevorrow’s father isn’t 
Jewish. His mother is 
Sephardi Jewish. 
Jeff Goldblum, 69, 
reprises his role as Dr. 
Ian Malcolm, an expert in 
chaos theory. Goldblum 
co-starred as Malcolm in 
the original Jurassic Park 
film (1993) and in its first 
sequel (1997). He returned 
for the fifth film (2018).
Probably not by coin-
cidence, Apple TV+ is 
now streaming Prehistoric 
Planet, a five-part docu-
mentary about the “last 
days” of the dinosaurs. 
The series features the lat-

est CGI and other special 
effects (some pioneered by 
the Jurassic Park movies) 
to make the dinos “come 
alive.” The series incorpo-
rates the latest scientific 
research about dinosaurs.
Jon Favreau, 55, was 
the head producer of the 
series, and two-time Oscar-
winner Hans Zimmer, 64, 
wrote the musical score. 
Sir David Attenborough, 
the 95-year-old legendary 
English biologist, narrates 
the series. 
I always like to “plug” 
Sir David. His parents took 
in two German Jewish 
refugee sisters, Irene and 
Helga Bejach, aged 13 and 
12, respectively, weeks 
before WWII broke out. 
David’s parents formally 
adopted the sisters after 
it was confirmed that their 
father died in Auschwitz 
(their mother died young of 
natural causes). David and 
his famous actor/director 
brother, the late Sir Richard 
Attenborough, often said 
Helga and Irene were 
always like sisters to them.
The sisters, who were 
practicing Jews, moved 
to New York in 1946 and 
stayed, for a time, with an 
uncle. Helga and Irene 
are now deceased, but 
not forgotten. In 2020, Sir 
David hosted a reunion for 
the sisters’ descendants. 
Helga’s daughter said: “We 
wouldn’t exist if not for their 
humanitarian kindness.”
Variety recently reported 
that Rob Reiner, 75, is now 
shooting a documentary 
about his great friend, 
Albert Brooks, 74. Brooks 
isn’t quite a household 
name, but he is some-
thing special. Brooks has 
co-starred in good films 
made by others and in 
really good films that he 

wrote, directed and starred 
in. The former includes 
Broadcast News, which 
earned Brooks a best 
supporting actor Oscar 
nomination, and Drive. The 
latter includes the thinking 
person’s comedies Lost 
in America and Modern 
Romance.
Reiner has a big-name 
list of documentary inter-
viewees. The Jewish ones 
include Jonah Hill, Sarah 
Silverman, Judd Apatow 
and Ben Stiller.
Variety also reports that 
Reiner is going full speed 
ahead with new projects. 
These include producing 
a dramatic biopic about 
Bert Berns (1927-69), a 
now largely forgotten 
music producer and song-
writer. Berns wrote many 
rock classics, including, 
“Twist and Shout,” “Hang 
on Sloopy,” “Piece of My 
Heart” and “Here Comes 
the Night.” 
Reiner says, “He only 
lived to 38 [due to a life-
time heart ailment] … [But] 
the list of his hits is just 
insane, and he had a really 
interesting life.” 
When actor Nehemiah 
Persoff died last April, 
age 102, I thought of com-
menting on the breadth of 
his roles. But other items 
crowded it out. Then, last 

week, I came across The 
Comancheros, a pretty 
good 1961 Western now 
streaming on Starz and 
other services. It co-stars 
Persoff, and it’s on my 
list of the “most Jewish” 
Westerns ever made. 
Comancheros was 
directed by Michael 
Curtiz (Casablanca). It 
starred John Wayne as a 
Texas Ranger. Three Jews 
have the other co-star-
ring roles. Persoff plays 
an “interesting” bad guy. 
Ina Balin (1937-80) plays 
Persoff’s pretty daughter, 
and Stuart Whitman (1928-
2020) plays a guy who 
courts Balin and ends up 
helping Wayne.
I was surprised when 
I learned that Whitman 
was Jewish. But it helped 
explain how he got two 
big Jewish film roles early 
in his career (as a Jewish 
gangster and as Boaz, 
Ruth’s future husband in 
The Story of Ruth, a bibli-
cal movie). Whitman was 
almost an A-list actor in the 
1960s, but from the ’70s on, 
he mostly looked after his 
investments. He was worth 
over $60 million when he 
died. 
The most Jewish Western 
is The Outrage (1964), 
an almost-unwatchable 
botched remake of a 
Japanese movie. It was 
directed by the usually 
good Martin Ritt (Hud, 
Norma Rae). Except for one 
role, the entire main cast is 
Jewish. Two members are 
still alive: William Shatner, 
now 90, and Claire Bloom, 
also now 90. Sadly, the rest 
are gone: Paul Newman, 
Edward G. Robinson, 
Laurence Harvey and 
Howard Da Silva. (Now 
streaming on Plex, a free-
with-ads app.) 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIPEDIA

Jeff Goldblum

MONTCLAIR FILM FESTIVAL

Rob Reiner

