Stand and Deliver
Short description
Stand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama about Jaime Escalante, a mathematics teacher who takes a job at Garfield High School in a Hispanic neighborhood of Los Angeles. He leaves a more comfortable career in the computer industry to teach there, only to find students who are not expected to go to college and who see little point in trying. Convinced they are capable of much more, he sets aside the usual methods and pushes them toward advanced mathematics, a demanding workload and a challenging exam despite the doubts of colleagues and administrators around him.
The film was directed by Ramón Menéndez and written by Menéndez with producer Tom Musca. It was Menéndez's first feature, and he went on to direct Gotta Kick It Up! more than a decade later. Edward James Olmos plays Escalante, heading a credited cast of twenty-three that includes Lou Diamond Phillips, Rosanna DeSoto and Andy García. Made for a modest budget of about two million dollars, it took roughly fourteen million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from around 24,000 votes, while on TMDB it scores 7.8 from a much smaller base of 485 votes. A critics' rating of 7.1 from sixty-three reviews places it close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- According to Edward James Olmos, the lines spoken by his character, Jaime Escalante, often used words that Escalante actually said in real-life situations depicted in the film. For example, the dialogue in the scene with the inspectors from the Educational Testing Service, investigating the possibility of cheating, is exactly what he said to the examiners.
- Edward James Olmos and Jaime Escalante remained friends until Escalante's death on March 3, 2010. Olmos even organized a fundraising campaign for Escalante's treatment, which involved other cast members and Escalante's former students.
- Before filming, Edward James Olmos thinned his hair and lost 9 kg (approximately 20 lbs).
- Ana Delgado is the only character based on a real person. The image was based on Leticia Rodriguez, the daughter of the owner of a small family restaurant, “El Farolito,” who wanted to drop out of school to work in the restaurant. It is said that the argument between her father and Escalante was as heated as it is shown in the film.
- For Ramon Menendez, this was his first experience in screenwriting and directing, and he and his college friend Tom Musca acquired the rights to adapt the story of Escalante for $1. Independent studios were unwilling to get involved with such a project, so the filmmakers had to seek funding through grants and contributions from various institutions.
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