GOOD GUYS GONE BAD
I like movies where an actor who has usually played good guy roles suddenly turns up as a villain. Here are some of the best of these:
Paul Newman was almost always the fair-haired boy or at worst the loveable scamp. Everyone loved him in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973) and many others. But in Hud (1963) he shows up as this truly awful guy, raping Patricia Neal and in general being as unlovable as a snake. 
Fred MacMurray was the caring, wonderful Dad for years in the TV series My Three Sons, and was the good guy in movies like The Egg And I (1947), The Miracle of the Bells (1948), and Fair Wind To Java (1953). But in Double Indemnity (1944) he is an insurance agent besotted with the nefarious Barbara Stanwyk and together they plot the early demise of her unsuspecting husband. 
Denzel Washington has almost always been the hero or at least the good guy in films like Glory (1989), Crimson Tide (1995), and The Bone Collector (1999). So you would figure in a cop movie he would be “good cop” but he’s definitely “bad cop” in Training Day (2001), corrupting rookie officers and anyone else in his way. He also turns out to be less than a stellar hero in Flight (2012). Actually, this guy can play most anything. 
Jack Lemmon has made a good living as the all-American boy next door in films like The Apartment (1960), Bell Book and Candle (1958), The Wackiest Ship In The Army (1960), and The Notorious Landlady (1962). But he is completely 
unsympathetic as the whiny, hopeless alcoholic in Days Of Wine And Roses (1962), dragging down everyone around him as he spirals to the bottom. 
The short, brilliant career of Heath Ledger has been marked by good guy movies like Brokeback Mountain (2005) and The Brothers Grimm (2005). Yet he becomes the quintessential villain in the Batman epic The Dark Knight (2008) as the Joker, a very unfunny character, perhaps the darkest of all Batman foes. 
And finally there is Bing Crosby, the smooth as silk crooner beloved by everyone in such films as Going My Way (1944), The Bells Of Saint Mary’s (1945), and all those mediocre Road movies with Bob Hope. Then came The Country Girl (1954) and he plays opposite Grace Kelly and William Holden as the truly awful drunk Frank Elgin. In fact, he was so good as this bad guy that he won the Oscar!
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Too many to rate for appropriate ages!

                                        GOOD GIRLS GONE BAD
How about some movies featuring actresses who are almost always good girls but who suddenly turn up bad? Thought you’d never ask!
Mary Tyler Moore practically defined the chirpy good girl in her two long-running TV series, and was also the good girl in films like Change Of Habit (1969) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). Then came Ordinary People (1980) and Ms. Moore is the dysfunctional member of a saddened family who has lost a child. Donald Sutherland and Timothy Bottoms are doing their best to cope, while she mopes and just can’t shake her depression. She was nominated for an Oscar, but lost out to Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter. 
Donna Reed is one of the last actresses you’d pick to play a hooker, heart of gold notwithstanding,. The All-American girl in movies like It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) and her own long-running TV show, she is nonetheless a prostitute in From Here To Eternity (1953). And this movie has another surprise entrant: Good girl Deborah Kerr, starring in films like The Sundowners(1960) and The King And I (1956), appears as a very adulterous wife, rolling in the surf with Burt Lancaster. 
Girl-next-door June Allyson, good as gold in Little Women (1949) and The Glenn Miller Story (1954) turns up as the hateful wife from Hell in The Shrike (1955), driving poor Jose Ferrer into a mental hospital (and into the arms of good girl Joy Page).
Anne Bancroft is very sweet in 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) and is almost saintly as Helen Keller’s teacher Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (1962). But her most famous part, by far, is as the wicked Mrs. Robinson, seducing overmatched Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967). Her angry face as Mr. Hoffman rescues Katherine Ross from the altar is not quickly forgotten.
Who doesn’t love Jodie Foster? We’ve watched her grow up in the movies. She is a sweetheart in movies like Candleshoe (1977) and Silence Of the Lambs (1991). But in  Elysium (2013) she is the extremely vicious Secretary of Defense of the stellar location of the rich and powerful, dispatching bad guys to kill off the miserable poor saps trying to become citizens of the idyllic utopia. Okay, I know she played a 12-year-old whore in Taxi Driver (1976) but she was mostly a helpless victim. 
And while we know Meryl Streep can play absolutely anything, she still stuns us as the worst boss ever in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), driving poor Ann Hathaway (and much of the audience) to distraction with her arbitrary devilish directions. 
By the way, I can’t seem to come up with any Bad Girls Gone Good movies. Any ideas?
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. Too many to rate for age suitability.

                                                     BICYCLES
A few years ago (Okay, a lot of years ago) a granddaughter asked for a column about her favorite vehicle- bicycles. Ah, well- anything to please a lady!
And since it just happens that four of the five movies in this article are in a lot of people’s all-time Top Ten, I am indeed happy to oblige.
Breaking Away (1979) is about a high school kid so enamored of the Italian bicycle racing team that he goes around speaking in Italian phrases and copying everything he can about that team. When they come to his home town some of the shine fades from their halos. Dennis Christopher (whatever happened to him?) is endearing and quite good as the wannabe bike racer. Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie are letter-perfect as his bewildered parents. 
It seems odd to us nowadays that a bicycle could almost be the difference between survival and extinction, but that is the exact situation in the legendary Bicycle Thief (Italy,1947). The plot is simple: A poor family depends upon a bicycle for the father to work. It is stolen and the Dad and a son spend most of the rest of the movie just trying to find the bike. The talented cast and the famous Italian director Vittorio di Sica not only sell us this premise but rivet our attention to the story. So- is this classic as good as you’ve always heard? Yes.
American Flyers (1985) features Kevin Costner and Rae Dawn Chong in a story about two brothers, one critically ill, who enter a grueling bicycle marathon race. It was written by Steve Tesich, the guy who wrote Breaking Away, and if it isn’t quite up to its more famous predecessor, its still a very good pull-for-the-underdog movie.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) has a wonderfully whimsical sequence where the main characters take up one of the very newest things- bicycle riding. Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katherine Ross look like they’re enjoying the newfangled contraption as much as we are enjoying watching them!
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) certainly contains plenty of magic. But perhaps the most magical sequence is when Henry Thomas and his friends outrun the villainous government forces and then mount to the sky as they escape with ET in tow so he can go HOME. Who will ever forget seeing those bicycles outlined against the full moon? 
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are fine for 12 and over.

                                                  2014 SLEEPERS
                                                       Part 4
Here are five more 2014 movies that didn’t get a lot of attention, but you might enjoy. This is probably the last 2014 sleepers article- or not?
Love Is Strange is indeed a strange little film that I actually liked a lot. Warning: If you’re even mildly homophobic, you’re going to hate this. But- love is love and this film delivers it in spades. John Lithgow and Alfred Molina are ancient lovers who have lived in the same Manhattan apartment for many years. After 39 years together they decide to get married, and when one of their employers finds out, the unlucky partner is fired. They no longer have the money to live in their beloved apartment, and so have to separate and live with family members. Their loss is palpable. Everyone involved, including the principles, tries to adjust to a stressful situation, with differing results. 
In 2013 documentarian Laura Poitras receives an email from an anonymous person identified only as Citizenfour. She connects with this person, who turns out to be whistle blower Edward Snowden. He has stolen (borrowed? appropriated? liberated?) thousands of NSA documents which show without question that US government agencies have been snooping on virtually everyone on earth. This includes all Americans and the top officials of several foreign countries. You may recall that German chancellor Angela Merkel was one of many who were not amused. The whole thing is succinctly pictured by Ms. Poitras in this stunning documentary.  
Million Dollar Arm is based on a true story. Jon Hamm, of Mad Men fame, is a sports agent on the edge of fading out completely when he happens to catch an Indian cricket match on TV. He notices that these guys can really throw hard and wonders if they could make it in baseball. Off to India to find out. He runs a huge contest looking for the hardest throwers, offering a million dollar prize.  Two winners are found and sent to America. They have no clue about baseball and their attempts to learn are hilarious. Did any of the boys make it to the big leagues? You’ll have to watch to find out!
Dame Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect, The Queen) is always good and certainly carries the lightweight but entertaining The Hundred-Foot Journey. An Indian family renowned for its restaurant leaves for Europe after a fire. When their van breaks down,
they find themselves in a French village that is home to an elite restaurant. The patriarch decides to buy the building across the street and open an Indian restaurant. A not-so-civil war ensues. After many mishaps and nearly lethal encounters, a gradual peace ensues and the cultural exchange is enchanting.
And finally, a very strange but engaging film entitled The One I Love. Mark Duplassis and Elisabeth Moss play a married couple whose partnership has run out of gas. They consult a counselor (Ted Danson- Yes, the old Cheers bartender) who is supposed to heal broken marriages. He sends them to an exclusive estate to reconnect. They have the place to themselves- or do they? Each discovers that the place seems to include an exact copy of him and her. They decide to return home and confront the counselor. I’m not telling any more!
All of the films in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are fine for mature 12 year olds.