LT's Review of "Talk To Me"

"I’ll tell it to the hot; I’ll tell it to the cold; I’ll tell it to the young: I’ll tell it to the old. I don’t want no cryin’, and most of all, no signifying,"-- Petey Greene

Last night I attended an advance screening of TalkToMe sponsored by The Washington Post. Talk To Me stars Oscar nominee Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martin Sheen, Taraji P. Henson, Cedric The Entertainer and Mike Epps and is directed by Kasi Lemmons.

The screening took place at the new Regal Cinemas Gallery Place Stadium 14 in Chinatown. Thank You to The Good Folks At The Washington Post and The Regal!

The film was opened by a brief introduction by Washington Post film critic Desson Thomson and followed by a film forum with Desson Thomson, Washington Post Op-Ed Columnist & Deputy Editor of the Post's editorial page, Colbert I. King, and Deputy Managing Editor of The Washington Post Milton Coleman. The film forum was so good, it could have gone on for hours.

Talk To Me tells the story of Washington, D.C. native, radio deejay, television personality, and activist Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, Jr. With all the articles and reviews that are out right now, I think we all know the storyline by now so I will not go all into it for this review. Also this is one of those movies that I would like those, especially those from the D.C. area, to experience for themselves first, then come back here and let me know what you thought!

Overall, I enjoyed this movie very much. I thought they did a good job in their portrayal of Black Radio Jocks in the 60s and 70s. I thought they also did a good job of showing the personal relationship between Greene and Hughes.

I will save my constructive criticism of this movie because after the forum I attended, it was 100% obvious all they could have done to make this movie even more historically accurate including more actual D.C. locations which would have been great.

During the film forum we learned more about personal details of Petey Greene's life from those that knew him and grew up with him. The political and social context of his influence was also discussed. We also learned that this movie was shot for the most part in Toronto, Canada. They did include however, a shot of Ben's Chili Bowl and we saw and some other shots of Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Taraji P. Henson on The National Mall.

We also learned that Petey Greene's life story, as told to Lurma Rackley in the early 1980s, was published in 2003 as "Laugh If You Like, Ain’t a Damn Thing Funny."

One of the best stories I heard was when childhood friend and schoolmate, Colbert King discussed how everyone knew Petey Greene was going to be big when Petey Greene played the dozens (in D.C. we call this Jonin') with John Bandy AKA Lord Fauntleroy Bandy in the early 50s in front the old WUST.

It was noted in the ending of the film that at least 10,000 D.C. Residents, paid their respects in below-freezing temperatures later that month in January 1984 at a memorial service, which was the largest gathering for a non-government official in D.C. history. We learned that some estimates were double that amount.

Here is an excellent article - Impact of Black Radio Figures on Social, Musical Landscape Getting Hollywood Treatment
Date: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 By: William Douglas, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com blackamericaweb.com

From a radio guy's point of view, I could really appreciate many of the scenes they showed in this movie. It was also a personal experience for me because I worked at the old WOL on 4th and H Streets in DC in 1993 and also in 1995 before they moved to Lanham, Maryland when I did some work with them there. So, a lot of the old sound boards looked familiar to me from old pics, etc. and so did some of the old posters they had on the wall. Some I had seen, some I had not, so it was a real treat. That blue and white poster with the #1 on it especially was a treat! I had never seen that one before. Cool!

Looking forward to the DVD! I hope they load it with many DC Bonus Features! I think they still have time to interview many of the people who knew Petey Greene at the forum and who still live in DC/MD/VA. Hopefully the DVD will include some original clips of Petey Greene and interviews from the cast and director.

Peace!
~LT