- published: 25 Mar 2011
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In the United States, a sheriff is a county official and is typically the top law enforcement officer of a county. Historically, the sheriff was also commander of the militia in that county. Distinctive in law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected. While the position of a County Sheriff is typically an elected one within the United States, many states (such as California) have state laws requiring that a person possess certain law enforcement qualifications before being able to run for the office. The political election of a person to serve as a police leader is an almost uniquely American tradition. However, examples exist, such as the Honorary Police of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency in the Channel Islands, have been elected since at least the 16th century.
The law enforcement agency headed by a sheriff is commonly referred to as a "sheriff's office" or "sheriff's department". According to the National Sheriffs' Association, an American sheriff's advocacy group, there were 3,085 sheriff's offices and departments as of the end of 2008. These range in size from very small (one- or two-member) forces in sparsely populated rural areas to large, full-service law enforcement agencies, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is the largest sheriff's office and the seventh largest law enforcement agency in the United States, with 16,400 members and 400 reserve deputies. The average sheriff's office in the United States employs 24.5 sworn officers.
Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known by his stage name John Wayne and by his nickname "Duke", was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, for several generations of Americans he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height.
Born in Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to USC as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he mostly appeared in small bit parts. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's lavish widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930), which led to leading roles in numerous B movies throughout the 1930s, many of them in the Western genre.
Wayne's career took off in 1939, with John Ford's Stagecoach making him an instant mainstream star. Wayne went on to star in 142 pictures. Biographer Ronald Davis says: "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth."
Actors: Mary Steenburgen (actress), Frank Hoyt Taylor (actor), Michael Rooker (actor), Alex Van (actor), Michael Maxwell (miscellaneous crew), John Hawkes (actor), Jim O'Rear (actor), Stephen Root (actor), J. LaRose (actor), Cullen Moss (actor), Elizabeth Maxwell (miscellaneous crew), Kathy Pefferkorn (actress), Kathy Pefferkorn (actress), Art Linson (producer), Wendy Keeling (actress),
Genres: Drama,Actors: Suzanne C. Swindle (miscellaneous crew), Sean Hayes (actor), David Avallone (actor), Ned Farr (director), Ned Farr (editor), Ned Farr (writer), Jessica M. Bair (actress), Ned Farr (producer), Dreya Weber (producer), Dreya Weber (actress), Craig Richey (composer), Amanda Deibert (actress), Kathe Mazur (actress), Kathe Mazur (actress), Gregg Daniel (actor),
Plot: Marine officer Alexandra is tough enough to kick any guy's ass in a bar fight, but there's one opponent she can't beat: military policy. When she returns to her conservative hometown from Iraq with a mysterious personal life, she finds herself charged with preparing a tempestuous teenage girl to boot camp.
Keywords: american-soldier, arm-wrestling, bar, boot-camp, california, closeted-homosexual, crystal-meth, don't-ask-don't-tell, drugs, female-soldierActors: Donal Logue (actor), John Frizzell (composer), Hope Davis (actress), Simon Baker (actor), Rachael Leigh Cook (actress), Philip Baker Hall (actor), Alfred Molina (actor), Mel Harris (actress), Bert Rosario (actor), François Chau (actor), Michael Mailer (producer), Scott Putman (producer), David E. Van Houten (miscellaneous crew), Roy Werner (actor), David Storrs (actor),
Plot: The tale of a serial killer in West Hollywood has two converging plot lines. The first involves an uneasy relationship between a psychologically unstable landlady and her enigmatic lodger; the second is about a troubled detective engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the elusive killer, who is imitating the crimes of Jack the Ripper.
Keywords: 23-year-old, 555-phone-number, arm-in-a-sling, based-on-novel, black-bag, black-man, blood, blood-on-one's-hand, blood-stain, bloody-footprintActors: Amber Dawn Landrum (actress), Jeanine Castle (actress), George Landrum (producer), Dan Harville (writer), Dan Harville (producer), Dan Harville (director), Dan Harville (actor), Peggy Matheson (actress), Penny Harville (actress), Penny Harville (producer), Billy Bacon (actor), Candace McIntyre (actress), Linda Medina (actress), Naomi McArthur (actress), Drew Martin (actor),
Plot: Clarita Harbinger - played by Peggy Matheson (Together Forever, Films for Families Series) is an over-anxious undercover policewoman interested in Tom Hansen - played by Drew Martin (Currently off-Broadway), an architect who has what might be the ultimate crappy love life. As he gets close to what seems to be the perfect woman, he starts "seeing signs" that tell him to dump her and go off on a quest to find the girl he first kissed in 6th grade, a move that disappoints everyone and even calls the ghost of his favorite school teacher back from the dead to offer advice to fix his love life. Tom spins out of control risking his friendships, job and life as he collides into a twist and unexpected result. A fabulous Rockabilly, Swing, and Country Western music soundtrack really set this cleverly written indie film apart. Based on true events (not including the ghost of the school teacher part). Music by The Honey Bees, Two Timin' Three, Mark Hansen, Jerry HotRod DeMink and Dangerous Dan & The Danger Rangers.
Genres: Romance,Actors: John Carpenter (composer), Luce Rains (actor), James Woods (actor), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (actor), Lex Lang (actor), Sheryl Lee (actress), Maximilian Schell (actor), Mark Boone Junior (actor), Daniel Baldwin (actor), Frank Darabont (actor), Tim Guinee (actor), Thomas Rosales Jr. (actor), Henry Kingi (actor), Melodee Spevack (miscellaneous crew), John Carpenter (director),
Plot: The church has long known that vampires exist. However, it is discovered that a group of vampires are searching for a powerful doom for mankind. The Vatican then secretly enlists a team of vampire-hunters, led by Jack Crow, to hunt down and destroy the vampires before they find the crucifix.
Keywords: 1990s, action-hero, anti-hero, armored-truck, axe, bar, based-on-novel, betrayal, binoculars, bitten-in-the-neckActors: Martin Landau (actor), John McConnell (actor), Christopher Plummer (actor), David Winters (producer), Vladimir Horunzhy (composer), Chris Lemmon (actor), Steven Nielson (editor), Gretchen Becker (actress), Graham Timbes (actor), Peter Yuval (writer), Peter Yuval (producer), Peter Yuval (director), Brett Porter (actor), Marc Winters (producer), Jeffrey Mandel (writer),
Plot: A government agent assigns a scientist to help one of his agents track down a Russian defector who is a cyborg. Meanwhile, an organization known as The Upper Order is plotting to take over the world by using the cyborg's powers.
Keywords: cyborg, independent-film, paranormal-phenomena, pyrokinesis, shootout, street-shootout, telekinesisActors: Dave Grusin (composer), Ruth Myers (costume designer), Barry Levinson (writer), Norman Jewison (producer), Christine Lahti (actress), Jack Warden (actor), Jeffrey Tambor (actor), Joe Morton (actor), Connie Sawyer (actress), Craig T. Nelson (actor), Al Pacino (actor), John Forsythe (actor), Sam Levene (actor), Wayne Fitzgerald (miscellaneous crew), Norman Jewison (director),
Plot: When a judge is charged with rape, Arthur Kirkland is forced to defend him. Kirkland has had problems with the judge in the past, including one incident when the judge wrongly sentenced his client Jeff McCullaugh because of a technicality. Kirkland faces a moral and legal dilemma.
Keywords: affair, assault, attorney, baldness, baltimore-maryland, committee, court, courtroom, courtroom-drama, defense-attorneyActors: Jean-Marie Pallardy (producer), Jean-Marie Pallardy (director), Jean Luisi (actor), Jean-Marie Pallardy (actor), Charlie Schreiner (actor), Gilbert Servien (actor), Willeke van Ammelrooy (actress), Alice Arno (actress), Alice Arno (actress), Liliane Lemieuvre (actress), Barbara Moose (actress), Georges Combret (producer), Jean-Marie Pallardy (writer), Gilda Arancio (actress), Jacques Insermini (actor),
Genres: Western,Actors: Ben Lewis (editor), Georges Renavent (actor), Mickey Rooney (actor), Lewis Stone (actor), Janet Beecher (actress), Sarah Edwards (actress), Fay Holden (actress), Cecilia Parker (actress), Ann Rutherford (actress), David Snell (composer), George B. Seitz (director), Erville Alderson (actor), Donald Douglas (actor), Edward Earle (actor), Jonathan Hale (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Romance,Actors: Lloyd Ingraham (actor), Tom Keene (actor), Sidney Bracey (actor), Harris Gordon (actor), Clarence Geldart (actor), Henry Hall (actor), Eddie Baker (actor), Harry C. Bradley (actor), Lynton Brent (actor), C.E. Anderson (actor), Tommy Bupp (actor), Harry Bernard (actor), Harrison Greene (actor), Billy Engle (actor), Sidney Miller (actor),
Plot: John and Mary sims are city-dwellers hit hard by the financial fist of The Depression. Driven by bravery (and sheer desperation) they flee to the country and, with the help of other workers, set up a farming community - a socialist mini-society based upon the teachings of Edward Gallafent. The newborn community suffers many hardships - drought, vicious raccoons and the long arm of the law - but ultimately pull together to reach a bread-based Utopia.
Keywords: 1930s, americana, auction, barber, bidding, butcher, cigar-smoking, cigarette-smoking, collective-farm, communal-values