up the academy is a 1980 teen comedy directed by Robert Downey Senior the movie was produced by Mad Magazine known for its satirical and often irreverent humor the film is a parody of Military Academy life and the coming of age genre akin to the humor style of other teen comedies of the late 1970s the plot centers around four Misfit teenagers who are sent to the academy by their frustrated parents in an attempt to instill discipline in them the four boys ban together to survive the harsh and absurd military style discipline enforced by the Academy's staff including the tyrannical major vaugh lcan played by Ron liman this film marked the debut of Ralph maio who would later become famous for his role as Daniel laruso in the karate kids series one other piece of up the academy trivia special effects Legend Rick Baker created the Alfred E new masks used in the film up the academy was not well received by critics or audiences upon its release the film was criticized for its weak plot crude humor and lack of coherence the negative reception even LED Mad Magazine to disassociate itself from the film going so far as to remove all references to it in later issues of the magazine Ron liman who played Major lysan was reportedly so unhappy with the film that he had his name removed from the credits despite its initial failure up the academy has remained a pop curiosity since its release it's remembered as the movie that caused Mad Magazine to stop making movies up the academy was released on June 6th 1980 the film holds a zero critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a generous 4.7 out of 10 rating from users on IMDb [Music]