Stand and Deliver

1988 "At a tough school, someone had to take a stand...and someone did. Together, one teacher and one class proved to America they could..."
7.3| 1h43m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 11 March 1988 Released
Producted By: American Playhouse
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Ramón Menéndez

Production Companies

American Playhouse

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Stand and Deliver Audience Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
sketchyshadydude Any movie can be viewed a portal, a portal that can transport viewers to faraway places, alternate universes, or distant time periods. Although these movies started out as simple black and white projections, they have evolved into masterful cinematic experiences that defy the limits of the natural world. Today, a "good movie" typically boasts mind-blowing special effects, a deep plot line, well-known actors, or a combination of the three. These are just of few of the standards set by film-makers in the 21st century. However, I feel that it is worth recognizing films that were revolutionary in their time, not just films that live up to today's expectations. One of these films, "Stand and Deliver," is about a Calculus teacher at a local high school who turns a rag-tag group of seniors into excellent mathematicians. These students go on to take the AP Calculus exam, all earning passing scores. Although this movie is not impressive to modern-day standards, it is worth noting that at the time, passing an AP exam was very difficult, at any school. This simple, yet tremendous feat helps me appreciate the worth of the movie, despite it being outdated. Overall, "Stand and Deliver" is a likable movie because of its charismatic characters that are easy to relate to.Likable characters are important to a successful movie because they allow viewers to either relate to them or idolize them. In the case of "Stand and Deliver," there were both types of characters. Jaime Escalante, the teacher of the high school, was by no means a perfect teacher. Throughout the movie he made many mistakes, such as making a rude comment about a student's love life. He also had a heart attack just weeks before the students' exam. These downfalls show that Mr. Escalante is by no means a god or someone we are any greater or less than. He also showed his down-to-earth personality through his fun, charismatic teaching style. In one such instance Mr. Escalante created a simple algebra problem by replacing the variable "x" with the amount of "girlfriends" someone had. This did not only cause his students to like him, but the audience as well. In this sense, both parties develop a sense of respect towards him; it is very difficult for a teacher to educate and appeal to his/her students. Although Mr. Escalante is a likable main character, the supporting characters in "Stand and Deliver" demand viewers' affection as well.Likable supporting characters only add to the main character's charm because it shows how he/she affects them. For example, one of my favorite characters from the movie is a boy called Angel. Although Angel is involved with delinquent gang activities and smokes cigarettes, he shows viewers his soft interior when he is at home taking care of his sickly grandmother. On top of this, we later find out that Angel is an intellectual man who cares about his grades; although he doesn't want his friends to know this, he asks Mr. Escalante for extra textbooks so he can study wherever he is.Although movies can take us to amazing places and can let us travel with amazing heroes, but sometimes the best movies are the ones we can relate to. Although I have seen some exciting films, it's always nice to relax with one of the classics. "Stand and Deliver" is my favorite movie because it has likable characters that I can relate to. I hope reading this review will inspire you to watch the movie, as well as enjoy it as much as I did.
Amirparviz Mantas This movie tries to depict the attempts of a high school teacher, Jaime Escalante, to educate and prepare a group of Hispanic students for a very difficult and important exam which will guarantee their future college and carriers. Mr. Escalante, who has a Latin-American background himself, initially tries to enroll in the school, which is located in poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles, as a computer teacher. But as he learns that the computers have not yet been transferred to the school, he gets the job as a mathematics teacher. His first encounter with the students, who are all of Hispanic descent and belong to the working class, is remarkable. He grasps the reality that the students have little interest in education and some of them don't even comprehend the English language. As a result, the students keep getting low grades and thus expose the high school to a risk of failing the accreditation. It should be mentioned that the school itself struggles when it comes to resources in order to provide a better education for students, as teachers are assigned to courses that are unrelated to their field of expertise. Concerning these issues and the students, Mr. Escalante recognizes the potential of his class and decides to teach and prepare them for Advanced Placement Calculus exam, which would guarantee their futures as well as making a good name for the school. As time goes by, Mr. Escalante realizes there are so many obstacle in the way of achieving this goal. From the negative feedback of school chairmen who doubt the students potential to pass the exam, to personal problems and conflicts within the students. Some of them doubt their potential themselves and some other begin to have problems with their families as the mathematics course gets more intense and time taking. Regardless, Mr. Escalante presses on and continues his strict ways of instructing the students as well as having a kind and caring side when it comes to obstacles and difficulties. Eventually the students take the AP exam and pass it with remarkable scores. But some time later the school officials and the students are contacted by the Educational Testing Service, an agency responsible for investigating the legitimacy of exams and their results. The agents of the ETS believe that the results of the exam is suspicious as all of these students has made the same errors in some questions and thus accuses them of cheating which later Escalante recognizes as a racist act. This unfortunate events lead to disillusion Mr. Escalante and the students, as they are being suspected by the society around them as well as the school officials themselves. Yet as the last attempt to prove their innocence, the students offer to take the exam again, but this time they only have one day to prepare. In the final scenes of the movie, the school principal contacts the AP exam officials only to find out that the students have passed the retest with high scores. This movie is directed by Ramón Menéndez, who has a history of directing movies which revolve around the lives of Latin-American people in the American society, as he himself was born in Cuba but grew up in California. The movie also stars Edward James Olmos as Mr. Escalante and Andy Garcia as one of the ETS inspectors. This movie can be categorized as a drama film which is based on the true story of adventures of Jaime Escalante. The title of the movie "stand and deliver" should be regarded as the endeavors of Hispanic minorities who stand against the existing obstacles in order to exhibit their potentials and deliver their capabilities. In my opinion, the main focus is put on Jaime's life during these events and less attention is given to the students who passed the exam. Of course, Escalante's role in revolutionizing the education culture in Hispanic schools is undeniable, but the problems in the way of achieving this goal would be more tangible if greater stress were put on the students' lives and their point of view about the whole situation. It is not depicted that how these teenagers managed to develop a deep relationship with their teacher and among themselves. In one scene, we see that the students are starting to pay more attention to Jamie and in another we see them committing to Jamie's instructions and having their own catchphrases and slangs. The movie also lacks when it comes to explaining the psychological process that these students went through. The process of how these lazy and uncaring students were convinced to study intensely for a very difficult exam that seems out of touch is vague. There are some selected cases of students, whose lives and troubles are briefly depicted in the movie. But the procedure in which each of these students copes with his family or personal preference is not clear. For instance Pancho is sure that he can make a lot of money by doing some business instead of coming to school and Ana's family try to take her into family business (restaurant) and prevent her from continuing education, or angel is a young gang member who at first has zero interest in math and Jaime, yet somehow they all come back to go on with what they started in school. The physical procedure in which the students are being trained to take part in the exam takes a major part of the movie and is well explained. Although it should be pointed out that the process of turning teenagers who have problems understanding basic mathematics to people who are capable of answering calculus questions is to some extent obscure and contains empty spaces. This can be explained by mentioning the long intervals in between each major occurrence. In general I think the director has done a decent job in picturing the existing differences and biases in the American society towards Latin-American minority as well as showing us the contributions of Jamie Escalante to the American society.
mohammadalishafiee The art is affected by confronting the powers to survive and their total domination. In new modern world and various arts, cinema found unique and important position. Now these days could be said that films are the most important tool in theorizing and managing the public opinion. In contemporary world history, cinema has played a main role in political, economic and cultural evolutions. This role was apparently observable in cold ware that was one the most important changes in contemporary history. The aggressive policy of United States against Union of Soviet in cold war was military threats, economic sanctions, cultural, scientific and social conflicts. In this way, Hollywood helped the American politicians in many ways. One the confrontation area between these two governments was space exploration. Americans started to make wide advertisements on walking on the moon in the way of using public diplomacy, they triggered Russian society. After a while there was whispers that pictures of walking on the moon was not true. This doubt has been continued until nowadays, which are not responded by NASA specialists. Based on this introduction, a distinctive review on the film of Stand and Deliver by Ramón Menéndez that is produced by Warner Bros. Co. is offered. This is a drama film with a simple story. It could be said that using the politics for art is the main strategy of this company and this film showed that this company has capability of narrating a story to confront the political threats, even in field of telling a simple story. Although the film was based on a true story, these companies could change a fantasy to a real one by their powerful tools. The cinema power and Hollywood claim that we will make anything that men can imagine. Escalante becomes a math teacher in Garfield high school where other teachers fail in forcing students to study. Students are way below their grade level and do not show any positive reaction to the new method of instructions. Nobody show this new teacher an agreeable reaction and it seems that his presence is an additional problem. Peer groups have formed based on the similarity in each class. They have same viewpoint to the school and class as previous and cannot accept the changes that Escalante want to help them. However, the special character of him make them change and they are attracted to him. They are encouraged to learn math. This process continues until Escalante ask school to participate in a difficult national test in calculus. He insisted on it and after the school agreed to participate, he start to prepare his students. The student worked very hard, in one of the parts of the film when he teaches the students in summer school in a very bad condition in the locker room of the school without any air conditioner, Escalante says that: "you think I want to do this, Japanese pay me to do this, they are tired of making everything, they want you guys to pull your own way, so they can go and take vacation." so it could be said that getting to better America and beating all of the world powers of that time, is one of the most self-motivations of him. So they got a wonderful result. The Educational Testing Service questions the success of the students, suggests the students cheated. Escalante defends his students but The Educational Testing Service did not accept the defenses and the only option is to retake the test. They have just one day to prepare. Escalante collect his students one more time and they prepare for second test. The second test is held and the same results is obtained. In this time, the representatives of the Educational Testing Service were present and the test was confirmed by them. Escalante is succeeded and in final scene, he is walking to the exit corridor that is shining. He step down to proof of the success of other part of American society. It could be men traveling to the moon! Edward James Olmos portrayed different characters as well as Escalante in his playing history. He is originally Mexican, he is also served as an ambassador for UNICEF and in his life he really emphasizes the role and value of education, the risks of gang life. He received an Academy Award nomination for playing as Best Actor in a Leading Role of Stand and Deliver. Unlike the simple story and normal play of leading and supporting roles, the trump card of this film was its music. Craig Safan composed one of his best music for the film. After three decades, his music has been used in different TV programs and attractive for audiences. In critical viewpoint, it need to be mentioned that this music is not fitted with this film. It was beyond the film of Stand and Deliver. Camera working and special effects of this film was so simple without any complexity. It made audience to feel just looking into a memorial book of a math teacher. He entered a school and discuss with other teachers, and he observed some problems among his students. He tried to help those students using new methods. His angry and happiness was so simple. Beside all of this it has to be noticed that the movie won 11 Awards and has nominations for 7 more. Finally, it could be mentioned that Menéndez introduce an American society as a capable, hopeful and with perseverance by narrating a simple story as well as increasing the morale and confidence of American audience. This society is not afraid of blames and in way of getting successful; they are ready to accept any difficulties. This definition can guarantee any society against his enemies. Menéndez give a self – confidence to his people and make them ready for cold war. In a war that science and knowledge seems to be meaningful tools, Menéndez could offer a simple pattern of achieving this goal in 1988 before ending the cold war.
Milad Navarbafi A high school computer science teacher takes a bunch of dropout students and gets them to take and pass the AP Calculus. That is a general theme, a most-duplicated story. But what makes this a standout movie is the originality and factuality of the film. The movie is based on fact, a true story- the true life of Jaime Escalante, an East Loa Angeles man who has left a better job to become a teacher, to prove he can be influential on the life of some kids in a society which prefers to ignore them because it's easier and more logical to lose faith in a group of losers than to spend time or money to make them something worthy in their lives.Jaime is a not a typical teacher; he does not confront his students on the first day, when they ignore him, disobey him, and even threaten him. He knows his class, their background, and reasons of their rebellion. He has set out to change their destiny. While teaching calculus, he uses examples of their everyday life- a life dominated by drugs and poverty for most of them.The everyday life of the kids in the movie is really important for us, the viewers, because we are taken to a journey to watch their lives and efforts to change, but the screenplay is not as successful in showing us that aspect as it is in elaborating the classroom atmosphere. We are not introduced to the life of most of the students. The life of those whose we see is not detailed either. We know why one of them doesn't have enough time to study because of his mother, why the other one's father doesn't let her continue her education because she needs to help in the family business; but that is the extent to which the story goes in showing the real problems of the kids we're watching. There is another story which is just making time; the story of the two students seeing each other.The students try, really hard, go to class even on Saturday, and pass the exam. But they are accused of cheating. We know they haven't done it. They are accused of cheating based on the fact they have all answered the same question incorrectly, but one of the main problems in the screenplay which is pretty much disturbing is the fact that we are not shown or told how they have done that, while we are sure that they have never cheated. There is one possibility which of course is not tested in the movie: they have all answered the same question incorrectly because their teacher has taught them wrong. There is a scene where the teacher asserts on an equation to be wrong but the students believe he is wrong. But we never know if they have made the same mistake or not. The movie is set in Los Angeles during the 80s. It is written, directed, and played by Latinos. In December 2011, Stand and Deliver was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. The Registry said the film was "one of the most popular of a new wave of narrative feature films produced in the 1980s by Latino filmmakers" and that it "celebrates in a direct, approachable, and impactful way, values of self-betterment through hard work and power through knowledge."