Stand and Deliver (1988)
This biographical film about Jaime Escalante and his efforts to teach calculus to students in an impoverished school in Los Angeles, garnered Edward James Olmos an Academy Award nomination.
Olmos played Lt. Martin Castillo on Miami Vice for five seasons, but it’s hard for me to see him and not think about William Adama, Cylons, Colonel Tigh, and Brother Cavil.
Seeing the impossibly young Lou Diamond Phillips and Andy Garcia play students in Escalante’s class makes me smile, but this a by the numbers portrait of the travails of teaching not unlike an infinite number of films saying the same thing. Teaching is hard. Teaching poor minority kids is even harder.
Lean on Me (1989)
Morgan Freeman portrays Joe Clark, a principal known for his harsh approach to discipline. He insists students sing the school’s alma mater. He locks the doors to keep out drug dealers. He frequently clashes with his teachers and dismisses those who dare to question his absolute authority.
Freeman is transcendent in Shawshank Redemption (1994) and excellent in Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Unforgiven (1992), and Million Dollar Baby (2004), but even an actor of his talent cannot save this film.
John Avildsen directed Rocky (1976) and the first three films in The Karate Kid series and should stick to movies about plucky sports underdogs.
The ideas the film endorses about education and discipline in schools is out of sync with modern ideas. It’s interesting to observe how different modern attitudes are from those held only a quarter century ago, but the movie isn’t very good.