Talk to Me [Blu-ray]

Director: Kasi Lemmons Kasi Lemmons

Overview

Don Cheadle stars as outspoken ex-convict and iconic radio personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene in a powerful biopic detailing the life and career of a media figure whose voice instilled the black community with hope during the turbulent 1960s. After talking his way onto the Washington, D.C. airwaves in the era of free love, a man emboldened by the inspirational soul music and rapidly expanding social consciousness that defined the decade openly courts controversy as his put-upon producer, Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), runs interference.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/09/2019
UPC:	0826663197761
Original Release:	2007
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:58:00
Sales rank:	25,797

Special Features

Who Is Petey Greene?" Featurette including interviews with the Cast and Crew; "Recreating P-Town" Behind-the-Scenes Featurette; Deleted Scenes; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Don Cheadle	Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green
Chiwetel Ejiofor	Dewey Hughes
Cedric the Entertainer	Nighthawk
Taraji P. Henson	Vernell
Mike Epps	Milo Hughes
Martin Sheen	E.G. Sonderling
Peter MacNeill	Warden Cecil Smithers
Vondie Curtis Hall	Sunny Jim Kelsey
J. Miles Dale	Program Director
Martin Randez	Hadley
Alison Sealy-Smith	Freda
Elle Downs	Peaches
Ngozi Paul	Susan
Herbert L. Rawlings Jr.	James Brown
Richard Fitzpatrick	Charles Sumner
Damir Andrei	Fred De Cordova
Sean MacMahon	Ronnie Simmons
Jeff Kassel	WOL P.A.
Jim Annan	Actor
Benz Antoinee	Actor
Carolyn Barrett	Actor
Matt Birman	Actor
Terence Blanchard	Composer

Technical Credits

Michael Genet

Rick Famuyiwa

Kasi Lemmons	Director
Michael Genet	Screenwriter
Rick Famuyiwa	Screenwriter
Mark Gordon	Producer
Miles Dale	Producer,Producer,Executive Producer
John G. Laforet	Special Effects
Skyler Wilson	Special Effects
Victoria Thomas	Casting
Jamie Jones	Stunts
Sidney Kimmel	Producer
Josh McLaughlin	Producer
William Horberg	Producer,Executive Producer
Joey Rappa	Producer,Executive Producer
Bruce Toll	Producer,Executive Producer
Don Cheadle	Producer,Executive Producer
Joe Fries	Producer
Robin Cook	Casting
Jay Nierenberg	Sound/Sound Designer
Glen Gauthier	Sound/Sound Designer
Stuart Provine	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Given the ostentatious and highly cinematic life lived by Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, a self-described miscreant-turned-straight-talking D.C. DJ, it's hard to believe we waited until 2007 for his biopic to materialize. Maybe it took having the right team in place: director Kasi Lemmons, screenwriters Rick Famuyiwa and Michael Genet, and stars Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who shape the man in vivid, moving, and often hilarious ways. A film like this lives and dies by the performance of its lead, and Cheadle perfectly mixes the reckless bravado that made Greene fun to behold with the self-doubt that made him human. But unlike most biopics, Cheadle shares the screen with a co-protagonist, Ejiofor as Dewey Hughes, his manager and an eventual legendary disc jockey in his own right. Much is made about how each character's strengths complete the other. The same can be said for the actors, who play off each other terrifically; Ejiofor's role not only doesn't take the movie away from Cheadle, but actually gives it the depth to rise above the paint-by-numbers nature of many biopics. Some numbers do get painted in the second half, as Greene's life had a trajectory typical of a star who burns brightly, then flames out, consumed by his fatal flaw. But much more indelible are the scenes that stand out from a conventional narrative arc, such as Petey's impromptu late-night eulogy to Martin Luther King Jr., where the normally incendiary personality tried to extinguish the flames burning outside the building by urging rioters to heed Dr. King's message. Coming on the heels of a slapstick brawl between Greene and the DJ who just slept with his girlfriend, this scene only hints at how expertly Lemmons juxtaposes the comic and tragic portions that tugged for control of Greene's life.