Up the Academy

Overview

A teen comedy that does not quite rise to the level of that age group, this uninspired story features Ron Liebman as the Major, a sadistic instructor at a military school. Ralph Macchio (before his 1984 hit, Karate Kid) and other teens of every stripe suffer through the indignities heaped on them by the Major and do their best with the sexual, ethnic, and racial stereotypes that the script gives them to handle. Robert Downey directs, Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses wrote the screenplay.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/2016
UPC:	0888574444457
Original Release:	1980
Rating:	R
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	30,297

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Wendell Brown	Ike,Nubia
Tom Citera	Hash,Mrs. Bombalazzi
J. Hutchinson	Oliver
Ralph Macchio	Chooch
Ron Leibman	Major
Harry Teinowitz	Ververgaert
Tom Poston	Sisson
Ian Wolfe	Commandant Caseway
Stacey Nelkin	Candy
Barbara Bach	Bliss
Leonard Frey	Keck
Antonio Fargas	Coach
Luke Andreas	Vitto
King Coleman	Rev. MacArthur
Yvonne Francis	Commandant's Wife
James G. Robertson	Mayor Holt
Rosemary Eliot	Mayor Holt's Wife
Louis Zorich	Sheik Amier
Robert Lynn Mock	Burly Cook
Tyrees Allen	Assistant Cook
Eric Hanson	Tough Upperclassman
Ken White	Chester
Patrick McKenna	Henchman #1
Robert Scopa	Henchman #2
Robert Downey Jr.	Actor
Tom Paston	Actor
Jody Taylor Worth	Composer

Technical Credits

Tom Patchett

Jay Tarses

Robert Downey	Director
Tom Patchett	Screenwriter
Jay Tarses	Screenwriter
Danton Rissner	Producer
Marvin Worth	Producer
Bernie Brillstein	Executive Producer,Producer
Marty Bolger	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Mad Magazine's attempt at a comedy film fails to capture the madcap spirit of the magazine and instead comes off like a third-rate knockoff of National Lampoon's Animal House. The script by t.v. comedy vets Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses lacks the specific details or inspired characterizations necessary to make the story take off, instead settling for a string of tired comedy cliches. One might have expected former underground-film darling Robert Downey to really stick it to institutions like private school and the military with a set-up like this but his handling of the material gives it the feel of a tired television sitcom livened up with a few choice bits of profanity. The only really solid aspects of Up The Academy are the soundtrack, which makes nice use of classics by the likes of the Kinks and the Stooges, and a few solid performances: an uncredited Ron Leibman gives the film's evil officer teacher character his manic all, Ralph Macchio wisely underplays his fairly amusing role as a Chachi-styled tough kid and Stacey Nelkin is quite fetching as a cadet's girlfriend who gets roped into the shenanigans. However, this handful of appealing elements isn't enough to offset the film's overall uninspired feel and Up The Academy is thus best left to collect dust with the rest of the Animal House imitators.