Up the Academy


Mad Magazine Presents Up the Academy is a 1980 American teen comedy film directed by Robert Downey Sr. and starring Wendell Brown, Tommy Citera, Ron Leibman, Harry Teinowitz, Hutch Parker, Ralph Macchio, Tom Poston, King Coleman, and Barbara Bach. The plot concerns the outrageous antics of a group of misfits at a military school.

Premise

At the Sheldon R. Weinberg Academy, four young teens are sent to school and learn the discipline that the school teaches. Almost immediately, they don't like what is going on. Along the way, they plan their own actions from looking for girls to holding a party without the faculty's knowledge.

Cast

The film was an attempt to cash in on the phenomenal and unexpected success of National Lampoon's Animal House, which was also a film made by a comedy magazine about a group of misfits at college. In 1983, Mad publisher Bill Gaines explained the genesis of his magazine's involvement in the film to The Comics Journal:
It was directed by Robert Downey Sr., and starred Wendell Brown, Tommy Citera, Harry Teinowitz, Hutch Parker, Tom Poston, Barbara Bach, Stacey Nelkin, Ralph Macchio and King Coleman. The movie was filmed entirely in Salina, Kansas, mostly on the campus of St. John's Military School.

Response

The film was neither a commercial nor critical success when it was originally released, and was disowned by both the staff of Mad magazine and actor Ron Leibman. Besides paying Warner Bros. $30,000 to remove all references to Mad from the film when it was released on home video, Mads publisher William Gaines issued personal handwritten apologies to every person that wrote the magazine to complain. However, the film developed a small cult following. Following Time Warner's purchase of Mad, all references to the magazine were reinstated on cable television. In 2006, the original version of the film was issued on DVD.

Production notes

On March 2, 2018, Mad announced via their Twitter page that a sequel to the original film will be written by an A-list film writer.