Up the Academy

I saw "Mad Magazine's Up the Academy" when it was first released in 1980. Just after I saw it, I read that the editors and publisher of Mad Magazine disowned the flick. In fact, I understand that the scenes of the guy in the Alfred E. Newman outfit have been cut from the movie. Also I read that supporting player Ron Leibman was so disgusted with the movie he had his credit removed. This movie had high school kids masturbating in the classroom, references to "hot beef injection" and many, many, MANY other scatological and sexually perverse goings on. Its nonsensical filth disgusted everyone who saw it in 1980.

In other words, "Up the Academy" was a visionary creation, 20 years ahead it's time.

Of course, this certainly doesn't mean it was any good.

I think this movie is really funny. Especially the part where all the cadets sit around in the dorm making fun of Major Vaughn. It's so funny because its true! I know - I went to a military school just like the Sheldon R. Wienberg Military Academy. This is the best work that Ralph Machio has done since Eight is Enough. Everyone should rent "Up the Academy" today!

I remember seeing the ads for this on TV and thinking it looked hilarious but unfortunately I couldn't see it due to the fact I was too young. So like a lot of movies that were denied me at a young age, I made it my mission to see it later on in life. Some of those movies, like, "The Life of Brian" and "Videodrome" were worth waiting for. Unfortunately others, like this one, weren't. And you know it's bad when Mad Magazine, the people that made it, put a large disclaimer in their magazine that they disavowed it. It was so poorly received that I don't think it ever got a proper release to home video and when movies like "Queen Kong" got a proper release, you know this one was destined for the junk pile of history.

There's an.... art to making sophomoric movies and it doesn't involve just putting a whole bunch of stereotypes into a blender and hoping what comes out is good. Take a look at "Animal House" which is an apt comparison as that's what they were going for. It's considered a classic in part to the actors that took part in it but also the direction, the script and the fact that they didn't try to do too much with it. This movie however just seems to want to throw everything they can at the screen and hope that something works.

Four boys are sent to a military academy all for different reasons and shenanigans ensue. There's the barber that just so happens to be blind giving bad haircuts. There's one of the officers that happens to be gay and like young boys. There's the sexy female instructor that teaches them about armaments in very sexual terms. In other words they tried really hard to be "Animal House" but didn't get hat made that movie the success it was.

In short this is a bad movie made to cash in on a more successful movie but without knowing how to do it in the first place.

This is an early "gross-out" movie, where most of the comedy comes from kids going through puberty. It is kind of a teenager soft-core porno spoof without sex or nudity. It is a bit offensive and a bit gratuitous, but not that much to be upset or satisfied with it.

I liked the irrelevance of it. It doesn't bother to attack the idea of a military academy, but just treats it as an absurdity from the beginning. I like the fact that it doesn't have any kind of sentimental development where the kids learn to appreciate their school at the end.

Unfortunately, the plot is pretty mindless with four diverse students defending themselves against a rather bullying and vicious militaristic instructor (Ron Leibman). The best moments are just absurd, fast gags that are justpointless and silly. For example, Barbara Bach wears a loose fitting shirt that almost shows her nipples as she instructs students in handling military weapons. We never learn why she would want to turn on her male students in this way, but we do see the students panting and there is the suggestion that they are masturbating. Obviously, this is a male fantasy with little possibility of ever happening in reality.

I think it is sad that the film was so poorly received that it effectively ended Robert Downey Senior's feature film-making career. He does direct with a carefree, fun style and makes the best out of a mediocre script. A film he did about a dozen years after this, "Hugo Pool" is much better and worth seeing.

I used to LOVE this movie as a kid but, seeing it again 20+ years later, it actually sucks. Up The Academy might have been ahead of it's time back in 1980, but it has almost nothing to offer today! Movies like Caddyshack and Stripes hold-up much better today than this steaming dogpile. No T&A. No great jokes except for the one-liners we've all heard a million times by now.

I recently bought the DVD in hopes that it would be the gem I remembered it being. Well, I was WAY off! The soundtrack had only 2-3 widely-recognizable hits (not the smash compilation others had mentioned) and the frequent voice-overs were terrible. The only thing that was interesting, to me, was predicting what the character's lines were before they said them. Yep, I watched this movie that much back then!

The only reason I am writing this review is to give my two cents on why this movie should be forgotten, sorry to say. :(