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Under the Yum Yum Tree
Jack Lemmon's terrific performance playing a completely smarmy character makes the 1963 comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree worth a look, despite some uneven characterizations and a lot of unsavory politically incorrect behavior.
Lemmon plays Hogan, the womanizing owner/landlord of an elegant apartment complex who only rents units to beautiful women. He becomes completely obsessed with a new tenant named Robin (Carol Lynley) a pretty and serious minded college student who plans to live there with her boyfriend, David (Dean Jones) in a totally platonic relationship. Hogan doesn't care whether the relationship is platonic or not, he pulls every dirty trick he can think of to get Robin to dump David and be with him.
Lawrence Roman's screenplay is adapted from his own play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961, running an unimpressive 173 performances. Onstage, Gig Young played Hogan and Dean Jones played David, the role he played in this film. A standard romantic triangle is hard to stay invested in here thanks to this really slimy Hogan character....God, where do I start? First of all, Hogan is about 15 years older than Robin, giving the relationship its initial "ick" factor. The opening scenes reveal that Hogan is a 24 hour party boy who sniffs after all the women in his complex, but once he meets Robin, all his other tenants disappear. He also breaks all landlord/tenant etiquette, entering Robin's apartment without knocking and when it was locked, just used a passkey to let himself in. Worst of all, this guy doesn't think he's doing anything wrong.
It's also a little too convenient the way the brains of the other two principal characters are removed and returned to their original places more than once to suit the machinations of Hogan. For most of the running time, Robin is completely clueless to the fact that this guy is trying to get romantic with her and watching Hogan's moves, it makes the character look like a complete idiot, though the opening scenes do take time to establish that this girl is no dummy. As for David, during one scene he seems completely on to what Hogan is doing and is completely oblivious the next. The inconsistencies in the characters of Robin and David seem to be fashioned to protect this Hogan character, who is so not worthy of it.
The Hogan character goes to ridiculous lengths in his mission, which include a lot of Jerry Lewis-type physical comedy that seemed a little out of place for Lemmon and detracted from the artificial sophistication initially presented. By the final third of the film, the only reason I kept watching was to make sure Hogan didn't break up David and Robin.
The film's production values are first rate. The art direction/set direction deserve a special shout out because the apartment complex that serves as the setting for this comedy is absolutely gorgeous. Lemmon definitely had his work cut out for him keeping Hogan likable, but he was up to the challenge. Carol Lynley was bubbly and effervescent as Robin and Dean Jones is an uncanny combination of sweet and sexy as David. Edie Adams, Imogene Coca, and Paul Lynde make the most of supporting roles, but the star trio make this one worth a look, even if the central character doesn't deserve the affection he's looking for.
Jack Lemmon's terrific performance playing a completely smarmy character makes the 1963 comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree worth a look, despite some uneven characterizations and a lot of unsavory politically incorrect behavior.
Lemmon plays Hogan, the womanizing owner/landlord of an elegant apartment complex who only rents units to beautiful women. He becomes completely obsessed with a new tenant named Robin (Carol Lynley) a pretty and serious minded college student who plans to live there with her boyfriend, David (Dean Jones) in a totally platonic relationship. Hogan doesn't care whether the relationship is platonic or not, he pulls every dirty trick he can think of to get Robin to dump David and be with him.
Lawrence Roman's screenplay is adapted from his own play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961, running an unimpressive 173 performances. Onstage, Gig Young played Hogan and Dean Jones played David, the role he played in this film. A standard romantic triangle is hard to stay invested in here thanks to this really slimy Hogan character....God, where do I start? First of all, Hogan is about 15 years older than Robin, giving the relationship its initial "ick" factor. The opening scenes reveal that Hogan is a 24 hour party boy who sniffs after all the women in his complex, but once he meets Robin, all his other tenants disappear. He also breaks all landlord/tenant etiquette, entering Robin's apartment without knocking and when it was locked, just used a passkey to let himself in. Worst of all, this guy doesn't think he's doing anything wrong.
It's also a little too convenient the way the brains of the other two principal characters are removed and returned to their original places more than once to suit the machinations of Hogan. For most of the running time, Robin is completely clueless to the fact that this guy is trying to get romantic with her and watching Hogan's moves, it makes the character look like a complete idiot, though the opening scenes do take time to establish that this girl is no dummy. As for David, during one scene he seems completely on to what Hogan is doing and is completely oblivious the next. The inconsistencies in the characters of Robin and David seem to be fashioned to protect this Hogan character, who is so not worthy of it.
The Hogan character goes to ridiculous lengths in his mission, which include a lot of Jerry Lewis-type physical comedy that seemed a little out of place for Lemmon and detracted from the artificial sophistication initially presented. By the final third of the film, the only reason I kept watching was to make sure Hogan didn't break up David and Robin.
The film's production values are first rate. The art direction/set direction deserve a special shout out because the apartment complex that serves as the setting for this comedy is absolutely gorgeous. Lemmon definitely had his work cut out for him keeping Hogan likable, but he was up to the challenge. Carol Lynley was bubbly and effervescent as Robin and Dean Jones is an uncanny combination of sweet and sexy as David. Edie Adams, Imogene Coca, and Paul Lynde make the most of supporting roles, but the star trio make this one worth a look, even if the central character doesn't deserve the affection he's looking for.