Stand and Deliver

The true story of a teacher in L.A. who gets a bunch of his urban charges to pass the A.P. Exam in calculus. The picture really isn't very good, but the story is so wonderful and upbeat that you HAVE to like it; if you don't, you automatically qualify as a racist and a boor. The picture has a terrible sense of continuity; scenes pop up all over that are completely inexplicable and don't fit in. The one bright spot is Edward James Olmos’s remarkable performance as the teacher Jaime Escalante. It is hard to believe that this slouching, balding guy is played by the same man who plays the lethal Lt. Castillo on “Miami Vice.”