Under the Yum-Yum Tree (1963)

Takes itself way too seriously

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Under The Yum Yum Tree" (1963) is not as bad as some reviewers may have you believe if you consider the time it was made.It's hard to believe that no other reviewer seems to get the basic premise of this story. The concept is shown at the beginning titles (not to mention the film's title.) The "Yum Yum Tree" has grapes (fruit) hanging off of it while a man and woman dance around it. This is clearly representative of the Bible story in Genesis with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve is tempted by the snake (Satan) to take a bite of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Doing so will make her aware of her nakedness and therefore 'Carnal Sin'. She then corrupts Adam by convincing him to do the same.In this film, a young college girl, Robin (Carol Lynley) moves into a new apartment with her boyfriend, Dave (Dean Jones in Goody-Two-Shoes mode) to prove that they can cohabitate as intelligent adults in a platonic situation before they get married. The landlord, Hogan (Jack Lemmon), is literally the devil incarnate. He spends the entirety of the movie doing all he can to entice the young couple to break their moral code and have sex. Even going so far as to make sexual advances toward her himself.The film is presented as something of a fantasy/fairy tale, so the behavior and sets do seem a bit unreal. This sort of approach was popular as a sub-genre of the day. Compare it to "Damn Yankees" (1958) or "Bedazzled" (1967) as devil characters presented broadly, or even "Bell, Book & Candle" (1958). Therefore, Hogan is certainly a lecherous creep and Peeping Tom, surrounding himself in his apartment complex with young women of perhaps loose morals, which when considered as real human characteristics would be far beyond acceptable behavior. But when seen as the Devil himself his behavior makes more sense. It is supposed to be over-the-top! Hogan dresses in red, drives a red sports car, has an apartment with red carpet, walls, & furnishings. At one point Dave is sleeping on the couch snoring. Hogan sneaks in and waves his hand above Dave's head and the snoring stops, showing a bit of supernatural power. Later, Hogan mentioned that he is devilish while examining his key cabinet, then the film cuts to Dave who briefly prays "Oh God".True, the premise isn't too complicated and there is very little plot, but for an early '60s foray into "modern" sexual relationships it's all pretty harmless. Especially since the couple passes the test to stay chaste until married. The fun is in the over-the-top performances by Lemmon and the always amusing Paul Lynde & Imogene Coca. Worthy viewing for fans of the era, genre, or stars.

What do the American film "Under the Yum Yum Tree" (1963) and the British film "The Magic Christian," made six years later, have in common? Well, not much really, except for the fact that they're both supposed comedies with a large cast of pros, and that both stunned me with appalled disappointment the first time I saw them. In "Yum Yum," Jack Lemmon plays a character only known as Hogan, the lecherous landlord of the Centaur Apartments, who only rents to nubile young women...until he slips up and lets an apartment to Carol Lynley and her fiancé (Dean Jones). Stretching the viewer's credulity, the two are cohabitating platonically; as Lynley's character puts it, she doesn't want to be carried away by her "own fermenting juices." What follows are some inane, cartoonish, hard-to-swallow situations, as the jealous Hogan (who would today be recognized as a serial sex addict) eavesdrops on the young couple, uses his "inexhaustible" supply of housekeys to barge in on them at all hours, and contrives to exhaust Jones with an exercise regimen to prevent him from getting amorous with his own fiancée. That Jones doesn't call the cops on Hogan or beat the crap out of him early on stretches all believability past the breaking point; Lemmon has rarely played such a thoroughly unlikable character in a "comedy." Indeed, the laffs are sadly few and far between here, but don't blame the three leads. Pros that they are, they give it their all, as do the always dependable Edie Adams, Imogene Coca and Robert Lansing ("Star Trek"'s Gary 7), but the script continuously lets them down miserably. Only Paul Lynde, with his trademarked smarmy line readings, manages to engender any chuckles. From the film's insipid title tune, sung by James Darren, to its entirely predictable ending, this picture is something of a drag. I can't believe I'm writing this, but I've finally seen a Jack Lemmon movie that's a labor to sit through. Guess I'll have to screen "The Apartment" for the 30th time or so to wash the memory of this lemon out of my head....

I really like Jack Lemmon, he has appeared in so many great movies during his career, but, what the heck induced him to do this total stinker of a movie.I watched this movie in growing disbelief at what is a teenage boy's fantasy of being a rich man doing nothing worthwhile with his life owning a apartment block full of gorgeous young women wearing next to nothing and having free rein to do what he likes because he is their landlord.What possessed Jack Lemmon to take on the role of a disgusting lecherous, moral free man who is planning to seduce (rape more like) a young virgin who lives in his apartment block. The story is so full of plot holes, why didn't anyone one report him to the police? Beats me! Anyway, I failed to make it to the end as when I heard Irene's speech about the man and the woman's role in a marriage I nearly choked on my cup of tea, only a man with a superiority complex over women could have written that baloney.Completely humour free and a waste of two hours of my life. I think I'd better watch Some Like It Hot or The Odd Couple again to erase Lemmmon's Hogan out of my conscience.

UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE was one of three films in the middle 1960s that Jack Lemmon starred in that he despised. He had shown in THE APARTMENT and THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES that he was a gifted dramatic actor - an everyman fighting the pressures of modern society, be they big business bosses or alcoholism. Then he did GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM, HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE, and UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE. The first two films had good scripts and good productions. He was wrong about them, failing to see they were excellent entertaining (but minor) films. But his contempt for YUM YUM TREE is correct.Based on a moderately successful play, it was a sex farce. Set in a California motel, Lemmon's character (Hogan) is a letch. All he does is think of going to bed with the young ladies who make the mistake of checking into his motel. If they have boy friends or husbands, he sidetracks the males as quickly as possible. He has a machine that makes copies of every key to every suite in the motel, and in one scene (which I always found very detestable) we see him humming happily to himself as he manufactures a new set of keys. When questioned about his still having a key after apparently giving it up to Dean Jones, he tells Jones glibly (and quickly - his delivery is quite fast and annoying in this movie) that he has an unlimited supply of keys.In a sense, the eavesdropping Lemmon, so casually violating the privacy of his customers, is an attempt at a comic Norman Bates. Here, supposedly, the situation is all in good sexy fun. But one can make a case that Norman's attacks on young women in bathtubs were also done out of a sense of sexual fun - only a sadistic one. That Lemmon's character gets a good comeuppance at the end does not help this film at all. It still quite lousy. I don't think Lemmon ever played a less likable character or appeared in a worse movie part.