Stand and Deliver

Day 265 - 9/22/09 -Movie #265

BEFORE: Yeah, I know it's an obvious follow-up to "Lean On Me", but I'm funny like that. Back-to-back films about tough educators motivating minority students in inner-city schools - but this is the best way to compare them....

THE PLOT: A dedicated teacher inspires his dropout prone students to learn calculus to build up their self-esteem and do so well that they are accused of cheating.

AFTER: Oh, man, I know what's coming - I'm going to start having the high-school dream again...the one where it's the day of the big A.P. exam, and I crack open the test booklet only to find that I've studied the wrong subject. I can't promise that I'm wearing pants in the dream, either....

I think "Lean On Me" was a little more exciting, simply because Morgan Freeman played his role with big strokes, and Edward James Olmos was more subtle and subdued. But there's more tension in "Stand and Deliver" when the calculus students have to take their make-up exam under the watchful eyes of the men from the testing service.

Andy Garcia plays one of the testing service proctors, and Lou Diamond Phillips plays one of the students. Not many cameos except for Estelle Harris (George's mother on "Seinfeld") as a school secretary.

RATING: 6 out of 10 notebooks