Stand and Deliver (1988)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Ramón Menéndez

Writers (WGA):

Ramón Menéndez (written by) &
Tom Musca (written by)

Release Date:

11 March 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In 1982, a new troublemaker hit Garfield High. He was tough. He was wild. He was willing to fight. He was the new math teacher.

Plot:

A dedicated teacher inspires his dropout prone students to learn calculus to build up their self-esteem and do so well that they are accused of cheating.

Plot Keywords:

Calculus | Dedicated Teacher | Cheating | Dropout | Mathematics

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 10 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Eliot	...	Tito (as Mark Eliot)
Edward James Olmos	...	Jaime A. Escalante
Estelle Harris	...	Estelle (Principal Molina's secretary)
Mark Phelan	...	Cop
Virginia Paris	...	Raquel Ortega
Adelaida Álvarez	...	Sexy girl
Will Gotay	...	Pancho
Patrick Baca	...	Javier Perales
Ingrid Oliu	...	Guadalupe 'Lupe' Escobar
Carmen Argenziano	...	Mr. Molina - Garfield High Principal
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

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:15 (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1989) | Australia:PG | Finland:S | USA:PG | West Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

American Playhouse

Trivia:

Edward James Olmos went through a hair thinning process and gained an estimated 20 pounds for the role of Jaime Escalante.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: One of the students, while talking with Mr. Escalante outside, is holding a can of Diet Pepsi bearing the logo introduced in 1985, three years later then the movie takes place.

Quotes:

Angel: Hey, I'm the first one here. What's calcoolus?

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Stand And Deliver

One of the best in the genre of teacher films.

There are many films about teachers breaking through to tough students. Many are trite, sappy and formula-written. This is one of the few truly powerful films in this genre. Every member of the cast gives an incredible performance. This is particularly true of the students. Adult writers in this genre usually fail to write convincing adolescent dialogue, but the students in this film talked and acted quite convincingly. The role of the teacher was not glorified, but treated as a regular human being who was doing his best to do something good, sometimes in the right way and sometimes in the wrong way. The race subplot was powerful, but not too preachy. In short, this was an excellent and inspiring story of teachers and students overcoming their shortcomings and being the best that they could be. A stunning and vastly underrated film.