Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 35

DETROIT FREE PRESSFRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1988 3C 'Stand and Deliver' delivers a dose of reality Stand And Deliver 7 Parental guide: Should be required watching for all students. PG. A Warner Bros, release. CAST Jaime Escalante: Edward James Olmos Angel: Lou Diamond Phillips By Linnea Lannon Free Press Staff Writer It is hard not to applaud "Stand and Deliver." Here's the story of one man who really does make a difference and of teenagers triumphing when logic says they shouldn't. It is a movie made by Hispanics and starring Hispanics, the first 10 minutes of the movie and Angel stays in the class.

There's a hint of torn loyalties, but the movie would be a lot better if the dilemma between friends and the future was made clear. That kind of dilemma is what is missing from the movie. Here we have unruly and undisciplined kids who become model students in what seems like one class session. How'd that happen? OK, it's flawed. But goodness triumphs.

"Stand and Deliver" is a great movie for anyone with a schoolbook, for anyone who thinks bad things can't change, for anyone who thinks one person is not enough to make a difference. You may not leave cheering, but you'll probably leave happy. impossible to explore the personalities of all 18 kids, but even those who figure most prominently in the classroom are sketchy at best. One key idea never adequately developed is the supposed pressure on Angel (Lou Diamond Phillips), one of the tough gang members, not to study. But his fellow gang members by and large disappear after Menendez makes no effort to suggest the normal changes that take place over two years.

The students don't mature in any way; they don't even change hairstyles or clothes. Another problem is the number of undeveloped characters who float in and out of the movie and the filmmakers' inability to develop subplots. It's which is hardly usual in Hollywood. And it's nice. Not an extravagant $40 million epic, just a good, uplifting story.

Only a spoilsport would knock it. "Stand and Deliver" is the story of "Jaime Escalante, a Bolivian-born computer expert who quits the business to teach high school students computer science. Except that there are no com WINNER Tn puters at the predominantly Hispanic Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. It's the kind of school were phys ed teachers are recruited to teach math and manage to do it only by staying one 'ACADEMY ASVA chapter ahead of the students. The tAMPltl INCLUDING EST PICTURE iir BEST COSTUME DESIGN James Acheson BESTHLMEDtlTlNG Gabriella Cristiani BESTORIGINALSCORE Ryuichi Sakamoto David Byrne and Cong Su BESTDMCTOR Bernardo Bertolucci BEST SCREENPLAY (based on material from another medium) Mark Peploe with Bernardo Bertolucci BEST ART DIRECTION Ferdinando Scarfiotti BESTSOUND Ivan Sharrock BillRowe BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Vittorio Storaro (AIC) Toughguys I don't do math," Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) tells his class, including several tough guys.

"Tough guys fry chicken for a living." DON'T MISS THE MOST HONORED FILM IN 25 YEARS. THE school is dangerously close to losing its accreditation. The perfect place for a man with vision. Escalante begins with basic math, eventually turning formerly unmotivated students into advanced math prodigies by a combination of humor, taunts and firmness. guys don't do math," he tells his class, including several tough guys.

"Tough guys fry chicken for a Eighteen students sign a contract with Escalante: If they will work through the summer, during vacations, and before and after regular school hours, he will prepare them to take the Ad- vanced Placement calculus exam, an extremely tough test that yields col-. lege credit for the few students in the country who pass it. The kicker is that Escalante's students do so well on the test and err so similarly that they are suspected of cheating by the Educational Testing Service, which makes the test. They can either be disquali- fied or take the test again. How can you fail to root for this group? You can't.

Well, you could but it would be akin to spitting at the flag. "Stand and Deliver" is not the hokey, trumpet-blaring triumph of "Rocky." It's quieter. It's the best happening in what we know is a real and not uncommon situation. The strength of "Stand and Deliver" is unquestionably Edward James Olmos, who gives a solid, determined performance as Escalante. Olmos, known to television watchers as Lt.

Castillo on "Miami Vice," is paunchy and stooped here, with sparse hair carefully combed over his balding head. Escalante is one of those rare people who believes that doing the right thing however hard or time-consuming or low-paying is what life is all about. Olmos conveys that sense of purpose without becoming too saintly. What's not to like about "Stand and There is a major problem with time. The movie covers two years; it feels like six months.

Granted, the location doesn't help; you can't mark the passing of time with snowflakes or falling leaves in LA. But director Ramon I AST EMDER A True Story. HEMDALE FILM CORPORATION presents a JEREMY THOMAS production a film by BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI JOHN LONE JOAN CHEN PETER OTOOLEasRJ "THE LAST EMPEROR" YING RUOCHENG VICTOR WONG DENNIS DUN and RYUICHI SAKAMOTO associate producer (U.K.) JOYCE HERLIHY costumesJAMES ACHESON production designer FERDINANDO SCARFIOTTI editor GABRIELLA CRISTIANI photography by VITTORIO STORARO (AIC) music by RYUICHI SAKAMOTO LWID BYRNE and CONG SU associate producer FRANCO GIOVALE screenplay MARK PEPLOE with BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI producer JEREMY THOMAS director BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI EASTMAN COLOR TECHNOVISION CAMERAS LENSES TECHNICOLOR (ROME) A UJLUMDiA fill IKtt KlLlWL LtTkJllTlAil VAIAIA ILWLiV'llivn wiu'iumv yunvu jwa. ia v. 11 VVUV1'-'J PG-13 PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED SS2 Jl UUtOT DICriEU I a in selected theatres SOLDTRACK ALBUM "THE LAST EMPEROR" ON VIRGIN RECORDS, TAPES AND CDS nmeSSSSSS.

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