Saturday Night At The Movies

Bless CC and its Vanilla Suburbs

By Dennis Hartley

“Wake up, goddammit!” As far as daybreak salutations go, that may not be as sanguine as, let’s say, “goooood morning, Vietnaaam!”, but for D.C. radio personality Ralph “Petey” Greene, it was all part of “keepin’ it real” for the better part of two decades. In the new biopic, “Talk to Me”, director Kasi Lemmons (“Eve’s Bayou”) tackles the true story of the ex-con who became an immensely popular DJ, community activist, comedian and TV show host in the Washington D.C. market from the mid 1960s up until his death in 1984. Don Cheadle (who co-produced) delivers another amazing performance…and it’s a good thing too, because it is the saving grace in a film that might otherwise play out like a glorified episode of “WKRP in Cincinnati” (more on that later).

His portrayal of the fast-talking, streetwise Greene grabs your attention from the get go, as we find Greene working his first DJ gig-broadcasting live and direct from the warden’s office over a jailhouse P.A. system. Judging from his fellow inmates’ reactions, it becomes clear that Greene has a natural gift, not only for being hugely entertaining, but perfectly articulating what his audience is thinking as well. In 1966, Greene is released, and through a series of machinations (and sheer chutzpah) manages to ingratiate himself with Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), program director of D.C. “soul” station WOL. Against his better judgment, Hughes puts his job on the line and gives the motor-mouthed hustler a shot in the air chair. Greene’s on-air debut is dramatized in a somewhat apocryphal manner (did he really open the mike and refer to Berry Gordy as a “pimp” right out of the starting gate, much to Management’s chagrin?) but the scene is adequately representational of a pivotal point in radio history where some DJs were transitioning from the Wolfman Jack/Murray the K/Cousin Brucie school to becoming “real” personalities with an actual world view.

Before long, Greene’s daily delivery of candid ruminations on the social issues of the day and the urban black experience in general strikes a chord with the D.C. radio audience. Dewey Hughes soon senses an even larger potential for Greene to parlay his talents into stand up comedy and TV as well, offering to manage his career (when I watched the reenactment of Greene’s D.C. TV talk show, I couldn’t help but wonder if Greene was the inspiration for Chris Rock’s recurring SNL character “Nat X”; right down to the lingo, the dashiki, the giant ‘fro and the oversized rattan chair!).

The film’s most powerful scene arrives on the night of Martin Luther King’s assassination, which became the catalyst for Greene’s social activism. Cheadle really gets to show off his considerable acting chops to full effect in this segment. Unfortunately, the final third of the film descends into the type of standard biopic clichés that have sunk other potentially great films (“Bird” and “Ray” come to mind). Haven’t we sat through enough of these tired “Behind the Music” story arcs? I would have liked to have seen a bit more attention to detail in the depiction of the radio station milieu. Let me confess upfront that this is a pet peeve because I have worked in the radio business since 1974, so I tend to get nitpicky about technical inaccuracies (don’t worry, I won’t bore you with itemized minutiae about equipment and studio layouts!). Oh, and by the way-if I see one more movie set at a radio station that features a scene where a DJ defiantly barricades himself inside the studio and continues to talk while Management and/or security guards struggle to force the door open, I’ll rip off my headphones and run screaming into the sunset. It just doesn’t happen (that often).

I want to stress however, that the film is worth watching for two major reasons. Cheadle and Ejiofor. They are both tremendously charismatic and talented actors, demonstrating an onscreen chemistry that I think could turn them into a Newman-Redford sized juggernaut, should they decide to work together again (with some better scripts, I hope). There are some good supporting performances worth mentioning, particularly from Taraji P. Henson, who portrays Greene’s long suffering girlfriend, Vernell Watson, with much aplomb (and a nod to Pam Grier). Cedric the Entertainer hams it up rather amusingly as late night DJ “Nighthawk” Bob Terry (recalling Venus Flytrap on “WKRP”). I’m sad to say that Martin Sheen is squandered as the cartoonish GM, who gets to fume and sputter and pound on the studio window whenever Greene’s antics get too risqué and scream cornball lines like “What in the blue blazes do you think you’re doing!?” I thought I would sign off this week by handing the mike over to Petey himself: "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 laughin’, I don’t want no cryin’, and most of all, no signifyin’. Achtt! This is Petey Greene’s Washington.” Amen.

Radio, Radio: FM, American Hot Wax, Talk Radio, Private Parts, Good Morning Vietnam, Play Misty for Me, Comfort & Joy, Choose Me, Amy’s Orgasm, Pump up the Volume, Times Square, Left of the Dial, Voice Over (1983), The Fisher King, Vanishing Point, Down by Law, The King of Marvin Gardens, Grosse Pointe Blank, Radio On, American Graffiti, Radio Days, A Prairie Home Companion, WUSA