Stand and Deliver (1988)

The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout prone students to learn calculus.

Director:

Ramón Menéndez (as Ramon Menendez)

Writers:

Ramón Menéndez, Tom Musca

Stars:

Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward James Olmos	...	Jaime Escalante
Estelle Harris	...	Secretary
Mark Phelan	...	Cop
Virginia Paris	...	Raquel Ortega
Eliot	...	Tito (as Mark Eliot)
Adelaida Alvarez	...	Sexy Girl
Will Gotay	...	Pancho
Patrick Baca	...	Javier
Ingrid Oliu	...	Lupe
Carmen Argenziano	...	Molina
Richard Martinez	...	Heavy Metal Boy
Mark Everett	...	Heavy Metal Boy
Tyde Kierney	...	Joe Goodell
Rosanna DeSoto	...	Fabiola Escalante (as Rosana De Soto)
Bodie Olmos	...	Fernando Escalante

Storyline

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a Hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods help gang members and no-hopers pass the rigorous Advanced Placement exam in calculus.

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Plot Keywords:

calculus | inner city youth | institutional discrimination | national film registry | teacher as protagonist | 

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Taglines:

A true story about a modern miracle.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Ana Delgado is the only high school student in the movie based on a real-life student. She was based on Leticia Rodriguez, the daughter of the owner of El Farolito, a small family restaurant west of downtown LA, who wanted her to drop out of school to work at the restaurant. Reportedly, the argument between her father and Escalante was as dramatic in real life as it was in the movie.

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Goofs

In most of the classroom scenes, there are close-up images of the planet Uranus with two of its moons (Ariel and Miranda) posted in the back of the classroom. It would have been impossible for those pictures to be hanging in the classroom, because the events depicted in the movie take place between 1980 and 1982. The first time humans had close-up pictures of Uranus and its moons was when the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in 1986.

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Quotes

Jaime Escalante: [after confronting the ETS investigators] You know what kills me... it's that they lost the confidence in the system they're now finally qualified to be a part of. I don't know why I'm losing sleep over this. I don't need it. I could be making more money, with less hours, and have people treat me with respect.
Fabiola Escalante: Respect? Jaime, those kids love you.

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Connections

Featured in Bad Teacher (2011)

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Soundtracks

Contrabando Del Paso
Performed by Marcos Loya & Jacinto Guevara

User Reviews

Edward James Olmos delivers!

I know, there are a million movies made like this. The story about a teacher handling tough students has been told quite some times. "Dangerous Minds", To Sir, With Love", "The Substitute"-movies, "The Principal",... The stories often look a lot like each other and "Stand and Deliver" isn't any different, but that doesn't bother. This is a fine movie!

I don't know if Edward James Olmos' Academy Award nomination was a big surprise at the Oscars or if his performance was indeed one of the 5 best performances of 1988, but I can only confirm that he gave a great performance. Funny, smart and touching as well. I think all the students were great as well, even so I didn't knew any of them, except from Lou Diamond Philips of course.

"Stand and Deliver" might not be the most original movie ever made, but that doesn't change the fact that it's highly enjoyable to watch. The story is good and the performances are great. Nor melodramatic, neither comic, just excellent Saturday night entertainment without being cheap. Worth watching!

8/10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

11 March 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Walking on Water

Filming Locations:

Garfield High School - 5101 E. 6th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$411,884, 13 March 1988

Gross USA:

$13,994,920

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$13,994,920

Company Credits

Production Co:

American Playhouse, Olmos Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1