 Cliff 's aspiring actress girlfriend , Jenny Blake ( Jennifer Connelly ) , has a bit part in the latest Neville Sinclair film . On the set , Sinclair overhears Cliff attempting to tell Jenny about the rocket pack , so he invites her to dinner . Afterward , at a local air show , Cliff uses the rocket pack ( and Peevy 's newly designed face @-@ hiding finned helmet ) to rescue his friend Malcolm ( Eddie Jones ) , who is drunkenly piloting a bi @-@ plane . Having been seen by the newsreel press in the airshow audience ( and Valentine 's gangsters ) , " The Rocketeer " becomes a media sensation . 
