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BLACK WIDOW IS BACK; ANOTHER LANSKY FLICK

Black Widow opens in theaters on July 9 and starts streaming on Disney Premiere+ on the same day. It’s another tale about Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow (BW). Marvel Universe fans know that BW died in Avengers: End Game (2019). However, this film is an End Game prequel, set between the events depicted in Civil War (2016) and Infinity War (2018). The new flick finds BW battling a serious conspiracy.

Once again, Scarlett Johansson, 36, plays BW. Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz, 51, co-stars. She plays Melina Vostokoff, a veteran member of the Black Widow organization, a seasoned spy and a mother-figure to Romanoff.

Lansky, a bio-pic about famous Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky, (1902-83) opened in a few theaters on June 25 and is available on-demand. Reviews range from so/so to complete pans. However, every reviewer says that Harvey Keitel, 82, is superb in the title role. The premise is that a terminally ill Lansky agrees to a frank run-down of his career with a reporter. But nothing about their conversation will be published until after his death.

Variety says of Keitel: “[He] commands attention not by resorting to showboating… but rather by conveying the sometimes ingratiating, sometimes intimidating self-assurance of someone who has seen it all.”

The director and scriptwriter, Eytan Rockaway, 35ish, says he was inspired by interviews with Lansky that his father, Robert Rockaway, 81, an Israel-based historian, did in 1973. Robert, a Detroit native, earned his undergraduate and grad degrees in Michigan and is the author of The Jews of Detroit: From the Beginning (1986).

Almost all critics say that flashbacks featuring the young Lansky and subplots involving the reporter and the FBI just don’t work (the young Lansky is played by John Magaro, 38. He was raised in his mother’s Jewish faith).

I want to believe Lansky’s

“Jewish avenger” stories (repeated in the film). But

I take them with a grain of salt because the main source is Lansky and other criminals. How many times did Lansky (really) help break up prewar American

Nazi rallies and how many guns did he (really) run to Israel during the Israeli War of Independence?

Wanting clarity led me to speak to Lansky’s grandson a few years ago. He didn’t know anything interesting that he learned by virtue of being a Lansky. What he knew came from secondary sources, and he had no clue where Lansky’s reputed millions went after his death. He was, however, smart enough to trade on his family name via TV and other paid appearances.

Black Widow

IMDB

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will be returned to use as the Hudson City Market, a food and home furnishings marketplace filled with dining and entertainment options.

Phase II located along Northwestern Highway and J.L. Hudson Drive will include townhomes. The landmark power plant will become a community playhouse. Northland’s iconic water tower will remain in place.”

Initial work, including demolition of JCPenney and other structures, is already underway. Groundbreaking may occur this fall.

You’ve written other books?

My first book was about Oak Park, launched on 12/12/12. I then wrote the Northland first edition in 2016. My third book was an homage to a book I read as a kid … The Hill That Grew, a children’s learn-to-read book published in 1959 that described the making of the Oak Park sledding hill.

The copyright had expired, so I filed my own and published the book on the 60th anniversary in 2019. I added articles and photographs about the hill and the David Shepherd Park. I published an expanded version in 2020. I’m currently writing the story of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlours.

How can people purchase your books?

The first editions of Oak Park and Northland Mall are on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. All books, including second editions and The Hill are only available from me. People can contact me via Facebook or my website, JerryNaftaly.com, or email GNaftaly@att.net directly to purchase signed and personalized copies of all the books.

A rendering of the proposed Hudson City Market

CONTOUR DEVELOPMENT GROUP

Northland was the home of Ross Music

NAFTALY