But imagine how people must feel when they see a film set in a classroom-a place where everybody has been.
I'd say about 98 per cent of us, black, white or Hispanic, will never step in a boxing ring. "When we see a film like Rocky, " Olmos explained while promoting the film prior to its release, "we see an Anglo in a boxing ring. Without ever having met the real Jaime Escalante, one can be certain that Olmos does not so much act the role as become the man. His performance is crammed with keenly observed inflections and mannerisms. Ultimately, it is Escalante, always aware of the pressures in their lives, who pushes, manipulates, cajoles, and hustles the kids, and gets results.Īt the heart of Stand and Deliver is the wonderfully lively and expressive acting of Olmos. In its most incisive scenes, director Ramon Menendez, who co-scripted with Tom Muscia, tellingly conveys how youthful minds and spirits can be dulled by parents who quash their children's natural eagerness for knowledge. Stand and Deliver (the pre-release title was Walking on Water) is a multi-themed film, at once a tale of institutional racism and false accusation and an allegory of how an individual can accomplish a task through sheer will-power. However, the story of Stand and Deliver only begins when this success is tainted by a charge of cheating, leading to an invalidation of the test results. Under Escalante's patient and gifted tutelage, 18 students learn the intricacies of calculus, and take an extremely difficult advanced placement exam. Others are Hispanic Dead End Kids, macho punks with boulder-sized chips on their shoulders. A few are nice enough youngsters but destined never to progress beyond serving fast food or stocking shelves in a supermarket. Several of Escalante's students start off as underachievers. The bespectacled educator's nondescript, slightly paunchy appearance in no way obscures his extreme intensity and his dedication to his job, and he wins the attention of his charges by the sheer force of his enthusiasm for his subject, and his ability to communicate it. The phrase "stand and deliver" (originally a military term) has come to define how a person-any person-is capable of succeeding if he or she works hard, stands tall, and presents him or herself positively and intelligently, and thus the film's title takes on a specific resonance. In so doing, the film's title takes on extra resonance. Jaime Escalante transformed a classroom of potential dropouts into calculus wizards, and Stand and Deliver shows how he did it. It is the fact-based story of Jaime Escalante, a math teacher in an East Los Angeles barrio high school, brought brilliantly to life by Hispanic actor Edward James Olmos in an Oscar-nominated performance.Įngaging, affecting, and inspirational, the film gave Escalante's philosophy and methods wide popular exposure, exercising a positive influence on American attitudes to education culture among those who saw it. Yet this independently produced 1987 drama is as riveting and satisfying as the most cleverly plotted, edge-of-your-seat thriller.
#STAND AND DELIVER MOVIE#
It also features a most unusual movie hero: an educator.
They'll have to retake the exam in order to quiet the critics.Stand and Deliver (1987) is a movie about mathematics-yes, mathematics. After intensive study, his students ace California's calculus test, only to learn that their scores are being questioned. Caught in the middle, he opts to immerse his students in higher math. But Jaime is also pressured by his bosses, who want him to control his raucous classroom. Los Angeles high school teacher Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) is being hassled by tough students like Angel Guzman (Lou Diamond Phillips).
#STAND AND DELIVER SERIES#
Joining our historic Encore series of great early Varèse release that have been out of print for too long, we are thrilled to bring back Safan's score for the acclaimed 1988 film "Stand and Deliver". Craig Safan (The Last Starfighter, Remo Williams) returns to Varèse Sarabande after far too many years.
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