The Real Petey Greene?
Oscar Nominee Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) takes on the role of Petey Green, an ex-con turned radio personality and social conscious in Washington during the 1960"s.
The movie, "Talk to Me" which is playing to limited audiences here and elsewhere also features Martin Sheen and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
It's really a first rate flick with a good story. And while Cheadle is good, if you are old enough to have been around by the 1980's you had to have seen, heard or even known the real Petey Greene. He was far better than the movie!
What a character. I was a very young TV reporter back then. but I covered the City and knew Petey; that meant when Petey Green died in January of 1984, I got the assignment to tell his story. We found it in the archives.
Click here to watch Bruce Johnson's Petey Green Story.
posted by Bruce Johnson @ 4:26 PM
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I agree with Mr. Johnson's account of Cheadle's portrayal of Mr. Greene... "He (Mr. Greene) was far better than the movie!" I was 15 years old when Mr. Greene died, and I can recall listening to his funeral on the radio. Based on the movie, you would never know (unless you knew) that Mr. Greene had children! I wish we could see more from the archives of the late Mr. Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene.
I agree with Mr Johnson also. My only negative comment about the movie would be that his personal life had to be fictionalized. The character that Taraji Henson played was purely fictional. Why is this man's story so important to tell but they felt they had to "make up" his personal life?
Check out the Washington City Paper story about the woman Greene hired to write his autobiography--and how she wasn't consulted for Talk to Me.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=2222
Although I'd never heard of Petey Greene until the movie came out, I watched it and became very jazzed wishing that I had been around and living in DC at that time!! I thank the producers, director and Don Cheadle for bringing his story to the big screen for all to see and get to know Petey Greene!!
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