Doesn't that move just lose material for minimal dynamic compensation? I mean, Black can quickly castle kingside. And, axb5,Qxb5+, and Bd7 to block the check, Tal must move his Queen out of danger or sacrifice more material. Am I missing something?"

One possible idea of 12) Bb5+
11) Bxe5 dxe5
12) Bb5+ axb5
13) Nxb5 Qb8?
14) Rc1 ...

Now White can attack with Nc7+ forking the King and Rook also preventing Black from castling Kingside. Black has no defense at this position.

12) Bb5+ is just another loaded weapon White can unleash upon Black.

However, the correct response from Black would be ...

11) Bxe5 dxe5
12) Bb5+ Nd7

The movie is titled, "Tora Tora Tora". If I recall correctly, the translation is "Tiger Tiger Tiger" and was the code phrase issued by the attack commander to proceed, I think. Not 100% positive on that detail.

The repeat of the word 'tora' 3 times as signaled from Japanese Air Leader Fuchida back to the carriers, was a code in itself meaning complete surprise has been achieved (so the accurate translation of tora is moot)

And yes, Tal achieved complete surprise torpedoing Black's defense :)

Morphy (a de facto champion) played 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 (the Morphy Gambit) hoping for 3...e5, when he played 4.Bc4 and 5.c3. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... Similarly, Capablanca once played 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.c3. Capablanca vs E Delmonte, 1901. Both of them, and Alekhine, went into standard Sicilian lines if Black didn't play 3...e5.

If you're counting, that's exactly ONE game where any of the 16 undisputed world champions, plus Morphy and Topalov, played 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3. This game. It's reasonable to add Fischer-Korchnoi, which transposed to a standard SMG, to the proposed book. Being generous, you could throw in the two Morphy games and one Capablanca game with 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5, where White played c3 on move 4 or 5.

It's true that the SMG wasn't really a thing until Matulovic took it up in the '50s, with considerable success. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... Pierre Morra wrote several articles and a booklet about the gambit c. 1950, but he was a player of much less note than even Ken Smith. https://www.chesshistory.com/winter... Chessgames gives only one game of his, as Black in a Scotch. A Rhead vs P Morra, 1924. But even Matulovic's successes didn't persuade the champions to take up the gambit, even in simuls. And it's a fair bet that none of them pored over Ken Smith's pamphlets. Note that even Matulovic only played the gambit from 1953 to 1958, and played 2.Nf3 22 times as often as the gambit during his career. Repertoire Explorer: Milan Matulovic (white).

Even Nezhmetdinov never played the SMG. I suspect the rationale of all these legendary players was: "I know how to attack the Sicilian; why should I sac a pawn on move 2?"