A Surprising Introduction

Some time ago, I was hanging out with my friend Bob watching a movie. Bob, is a filmmaker and holds a film degree, so one might think that we were watching an art-house film or some cinematic masterpiece. But noooo, we were watching a wonderfully bad movie from the 80's. This movie is so bad that it makes Stop or My Mom Will Shoot look like something from the A.F.I. list. But, I have to admit that it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

Moving Violations is the tale of Dana Cannon, a sarcastic wiseass, who finds himself in traffic school after one-too-many traffic tickets. Cannon is played masterfully by one of the Murray brothers. Was it Bill? Of course not. What about the prolific Brian Doyle Murray? No way. It wasn't even the "3rd string" Murray brother, Joel, of Dharma and Greg fame. This movie stared John Murray.

Not surprisingly, Murray's IMDB reference is sparse. After doing Moving Violations, in 1985 and Scrooged in 1988, his acting career laid dormant until he finally burst back on the scene in 2007.

But I digress, for John Murray is not the point of this post. During this viewing of the movie, I noticed something...or someone, that I had not noticed before. During one scene, I spied a familiar actor playing a fast food employee. That actor was Don Cheadle.

After I recognized Cheadle, I went to his IMDB page, and I saw that this cinematic classic was his first movie. I know that every actor probably has a movie in their resume that they would like to forget, but I was surprised to see that this movie was his first introduction to the world of film.

Everyone says that you only have one chance to make a first impression, and while I do believe that is true, it's also important to not let that first impression pigeonhole you. Cheadle has been able to rise above his debut in a forgettable movie and develop into a highly-regarded actor.

So while we can't change the introduction/impression we leave with others, we are in control of what we do after that. A true author never publishes a work that only contains an introduction. They continue the story, because that's when the amazing stuff happens.