Broadway dreams, two action flicks, Auschwitz gladiators

Stars of David

By Nate Bloom, Stars of David Contributing Columnist

Editor’s Note: Persons in bold are deemed by Nate Bloom to be Jewish for the purpose of this column. Persons identifi ed as Jewish have at least one Jewish parent and were not raised in, or identify with, a faith other than Judaism. Converts to Judaism, of course, are also identified as Jewish.

The Disney+ original film, “Better Nate Than Ever,” premieres April 1. Nate, 13, is an unpopular Pittsburgh teen who fantasizes that he will become a big Broadway star. His best friend, Libby, convinces him to go with her to New York and audition for a big Broadway musical. He lucks out when he runs into his Aunt Heidi (Lisa Kudrow, 58), a ‘showbiz smart’ person who has long been estranged from Nate’s parents.

On April 4 and 5, most PBS stations will air a two-part biography of Benjamin Franklin. The episodes are each two hours long, from 8 to10 p.m. I’m sure there will be encore showings and you can watch it on the PBS app. The super-famous documentary maker, Ken Burns, directed the episodes. It is narrated by actor Peter Coyote, 80.

I doubt that Burns (whose wife is Jewish) will even mention this, but I will, in case you come across the many antisemitic sites that say Franklin wrote a lengthy attack on Jews. Usually called the “Franklin Prophecy,” this “big lie” junk was actually written by a notorious antisemite in the 1930s. Check the very good Wikipedia entry (entitled “Franklin’s Prophecy”) for more details. As many scholars have noted, Franklin (really) gave a small cash donation to a struggling Philadelphia synagogue. Not something an antisemite would do.

“Gaslight” is an 8-episode limited Starz series that begins streaming April 24. Early in 1972, John Mitchell (Sean Penn, 61), Nixon’s attorney general, resigned and became Nixon’s reelection campaign head. His wife, Martha (Julia Roberts), had some info about the Watergate break-in (June 1972) and John knew she probably would give this info to the press. Just days after the break-in, John arranged for his wife’s kidnapping and imprisonment in a hotel room. Martha managed to call a top Washington reporter and briefly talk about Watergate before the phone was ripped from her hand. John then orchestrated a smear campaign to paint his wife as a drunk and a “nut.”

Nat Faxon, 44, whose mother was Jewish, plays top Nixon aide Bob Haldeman. Like Nixon’s other top aide, John Ehrlichman, Haldeman did prison time for his Watergate crimes. The Nixon tapes disclosed that Haldeman and Nixon often made antisemitic remarks, but never did so when Ehrlichman was present. Why? They knew that Ehrlichman’s father was a Jew who converted to John’s mother’s faith, Christian Science.

The action-thriller film, “Ambulance,” opens in theaters April 8. Plot: William Sharp, an African American war vet, needs $231,000 for his wife’s surgery. He turns to his adoptive brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal, 41), a career criminal. Their attempt to rob a bank goes wrong — they shoot a police officer and flee in an ambulance carrying the shot cop and an EMT.

In a recent Esquire interview, Gyllenhaal said it was time for him to do some big action movies again — and that’s the type of films that “Ambulance” director Michael Bay, 57, makes (“Transformers,” “Pearl Harbor”). Esquire also reported that Jake’s actress sister, Maggie, gave Jake a mezuzah at a 2021 family Hanukkah party hosted by their screenwriter mother, Naomi Foner, 75.

Ben Foster, 41, an excellent actor, stars in two new movies — “The Contractor” (in theaters April 1) and “The Survivor,” an original HBO Max fi lm (premieres April 27). Foster was raised in his father’s Jewish faith and was a bar mitzvah. His wife, Laura Prepon, 41 (“That '70s Show”), also is the child of a Jewish father/non-Jewish mother.

“Contractor” is an action film about James Harper, a former special forces soldier (Chris Pine) who goes to work for a private company along with his best friend (Foster). He needs friends when he takes on a very dangerous overseas mission.

Foster is the star of “The Survivor,” based on the true story of Harry Haft (1925-2007). Haft was just 16 when he was sent to Auschwitz. His strong build prompted the SS to train him to be a boxer. The SS found it “entertaining” to force prisoners to box to the death before military personnel. Haft survived 76 such matches.

I am annoyed that the only other Jew playing a Jew is Israeli model and actress Dar Zuzovsky, 31. Vicky Krieps, who plays Miriam, Haft’s (real) Jewish girlfriend, isn’t Jewish — but I give Krieps a “pass” because her real-life grandfather was an anti-Nazi resistance leader. The film was directed by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson, 79.

Frankly, I don’t like seeing Jews beat other Jews to death, and a very similar true-life “box or die” film about a Greek Jew in Auschwitz was made in 1989 — “Triumph of the Spirit.”