It has been eons since I first saw Stand and Deliver on cable. At the time, Edward James Olmos lived in my head as the stoic police lieutenant on Miami Vice. It would be years before I followed him as Commander Adama on Battlestar Galactica.
It was with Stand and Deliver that I first saw Olmos as a charismatic character that would inspire people to go beyond what they thought they could accomplish.
Stand and Deliver stars Olmos as Jaime Escalante, a man who gave up a profitable career in the budding computer industry to teach math to kids in the predominantly Hispanic, understaffed and underfunded high school in East L.A. Escalante understands the challenges his students face at home, in school, and in the wider world, having had to deal with them himself.
Originally hired to teach basic math, Escalante can see a better future for his kids.
He pushes the school to let him teach his students A.P. Calculus, giving them the advantage of earning college credit in high school. Most of his students and their families never considered anything beyond high school. Escalante connects with his kids, holding them to a higher standard in the belief that they could rise to the occasion. Stand and Deliver is not just the story of a teacher that believes in their students and works-their-teaching-magic on them. The film also focuses on the students themselves, and what they do to be the first in their school to achieve high academic scores.
I was fascinated to see how Stand and Deliver stood up to watching through today’s lens. Director Ramón Menéndez has only a few films to his credit. Stand and Deliver was his directorial debut. It is a film very much of the late 1980s aesthetic. It is a fast paced drama that covers a lot of ground at just over a 100 mins. Olmos’s Escalante, the strong paternal male lead to mentor the younger characters.
A talented young cast covers the high school archetypes. We have the shy girl who is the smartest, the pretty girl who everyone wants to date, her heavier best friend, the nerdy guy, and the big dumb guy. A young Lou Diamond Phillips plays the tough kid with a heart that wants to be more. Intense, emotional scenes showing the kids struggles are strung together with montages of learning complex math.
It all looks like it will fall apart when the students’ unusually high scores are questioned by the testing board. Escalante challenges the testing board and Olmos has an intense exchange with one of the board reviewers, played by a very young Andy Garcia. Garcia is that antagonist (but not really a bad guy) that every 1980s movie needs.
Just about every 80s troupe is used in the crafting of Stand and Deliver and the film shouldn’t work, but it does. The type of story telling used gives space for character development. It allows us to get invested in what is essentially just a bunch of kids sitting round being talked to. And yet, the film still brings tension and drama. Olmos worked with the real life Escalante to try and learn as many of Escalante’s stories and study his mannerisms. His hard work paid off, creating a film version of Escalante that the real life Escalante was pleased with.
Each of the young actors give a heartfelt performance with Ingrid Oliu, the standout, as Lupe Escobar. I’ve known girls like Lupe. Girls who have to balance helping take care of her younger siblings while trying to make it through school and life. Oliu’s excellent performance makes Lupe’s struggle real.
Most of the film still holds up to a 2024 viewing. What may or may not hold up is the kind of visual storytelling or script that is used to make the film. A style not utilized these days in Hollywood. Today’s audiences may find this style a challenge to sit through, but it is well worth the effort.
I did find myself questioning whether or not a teacher today would even be able to teach the way Escalante did without being fired or sued.
What I didn’t question was that the story itself still holds up as inspirational. There are several films about teachers making a difference in urban kids’ lives and the fact that this film is based on a real story makes it that much better.
The only extra is the film’s trailer.
Stand and Deliver is by far my favorite film in this genre.
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