I thought the Cali engines responded as advertised. Wasn't it the Speed Brakes being left out that prevented them making the extra few feet needed to clear the ridge?
The AA Cali B757 engines responded just fine.
Trying to climb away from rapidly rising terrain with the spoilers extended was the problem...that, and the crew not understanding the FMC inputs/display together with a rushed approach and ignoring raw data navigation information.
A ****-up of the highest order, and a classic example of how
not to safely operate the airplane.