The true life story of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself – sometimes to outrageous effect – and “tell it like it is.” With the support of his irrepressible and tempestuous girlfriend Vernell, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio gig. He forges a friendship and a partnership with fellow prison inmate Milo's brother Dewey Hughes. From the first wild morning on the air, Petey relies on the more straight-laced Dewey to run interference at WOL-AM, where Dewey is the program director. At the station, Petey becomes an iconic radio personality, surpassing even the established popularity of his fellow disc jockeys, Nighthawk and Sunny Jim. Combining biting humor with social commentary, Petey openly courts controversy for station owner E.G. Sonderling. Petey was determined to make not just himself but his community heard during an exciting and turbulent period in American history. As Petey's voice, humor, and spirit surge across the airwaves with the vitality of the era, listeners tune in to hear not only incredible music but also a man speaking directly to them about race and power in America like few people ever have. Through the years, Petey's “The truth just is” style — on – and off-air – would redefine both Petey and Dewey, and empower each to become the man he would most like to be.
Genre(s): Biography, Drama, History
Runtime: 118 minutes
Rating: 7.4/10 (4,986 votes)
Release Date: 12 March 2007
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
Sound: Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated R for pervasive language and some sexual content.
Director(s): Kasi Lemmons
Producer(s):
Don Cheadle – executive producer
J. Miles Dale – executive producer
Joe Fries – producer
Mark Gordon – producer
William Horberg – executive producer
Sidney Kimmel – producer
Josh McLaughlin – producer
Joseph Rappa – executive producer (as Joey Rappa)
Bruce Toll – executive producer
Writer(s):
Michael Genet – (screenplay) and
Rick Famuyiwa – (screenplay)
Michael Genet – (story)
Cast:
Don Cheadle – Petey Greene
Chiwetel Ejiofor – Dewey Hughes
Bruce McFee – Prison Sign-In Guard
Mike Epps – Milo Hughes
Peter MacNeill – Warden Cecil Smithers
Adam Gaudreau – Escorting Guard
Taraji P. Henson – Vernell Watson
Cedric the Entertainer – 'Nighthawk' Bob Terry
Martin Sheen – E.G. Sonderling
J. Miles Dale – Program Director
Music: Terence Blanchard
Tagline: Inspired by a true story
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When I first watched this movie in the theatre a couple of months back,I was certain I'd seen some of the year's best performances. Watchingit again last night on DVD, I'm still certain of that, but equally I'mpuzzled as to why this movie didn't do better in theatres? As well asthe performances, it has a reasonably well written script, a compellingstory based on a real life character, some well known actors and asound track so good I went online and bought it the next day.
Maybe I'm showing my age? It's based in the 1960's around the time ofthe Civil Rights Movement. I was just a kid but I remember it well,even from my viewpoint across the Atlantic. Audiences seem to cope finewith future fantasies, current times and history prior to the lastfifty years, but recent history often seems to sink without trace.Bobby, set in roughly the same time period, also disappeared rapidlyfrom theatre screens. Maybe it's only boring old codgers like me whofind this stuff interesting anymore?
Ralph "Petey" Greene, well played by Don Cheadle, was quite a characterif this movie is to be believed (and there are those who say itshouldn't be believed too much.) An ex-con (he rather liked the term'miscreant'), after getting out of jail he talked his way into a job asDJ on a Washington DC radio station WOL–AM at just the right time.Ratings were falling and the station was losing touch with its largelyblack, poor and urban fan base. Greene was blazingly honest, radicaland a compulsive communicator. He spoke up on air about socialinjustice and racism, giving the station a hard time occasionally withthe federal authorities who license the airwaves, but rapidly becominga popular local voice for the African-American community at a time ofenormous social upheaval and change. His Program Director Dewey Hughes(played by Chiwetel Ejiofor who was so good last year in Inside Man)apparently took a huge risk putting him on air but went on to becomehis manager. It has to be said the movie was written by Hughes' son, somay be very biased in his favour.
The story takes us through the late 60's, the assassination of DrMartin Luther King, the riots that followed, and into the 70's,complete with the fabulously awful clothes and haircuts of the time (Iremember them all too well!) and the great music. Greene wasinstrumental in calming DC down after Dr King's murder in '68, talkingmovingly on air to his listeners as the streets burned outside. Heintroduced James Brown at a memorial concert the next night, and thenwent on to success on TV. Those at least are facts. I think…
But like most interesting people, Petey Greene apparently had hisdemons. And that's where opinions diverge. According to the movie,drink and drugs caught up with him all too often. He had a tumultuousrelationship with his girlfriend Vernell (lively performance by TarajiP Henson) and eventually split from Hughes. Greene's family hasmaintained that Talk to Me misrepresents him as a drug fuelledwomanizer, and certainly I have no idea where the truth lies. What isknown is that he died at 53, and over 10,000 mourners turned out forhis funeral, still the largest gathering for any non-elected officialin DC history, that Dewey Hughes is still alive and successful, livingin LA, and apparently no one is talking to anyone else involved in thisproject.
Which is sad. But it is nonetheless a pretty good movie, and it shouldhave done better than it did.