This film is almost camp in its sophomoric racism. As a member of a minority that has also experienced this kind of dehumanization at a time when this was not at all uncommon I think that this movie has value as an example of what generations ..even my own daughter will never believe unless they see it. I think we all need these movies in their uncut form as a reminder (embarrassing though it is to the filmmakers) of how dumb we can get with these kinds of issues. I speak as a minority and as a fellow brother to all of you reading this. This is not shocking and the Japanese I am sure have the self confidence (as does my minority group) to point at this as a laughable example of white racism in its most childish form. It does not inspire hate for the whites who made it ...it inspires incredulity and empathy in me personally because it is truly embarrassing. I am sure it is the whites who would most like to eradicate this film and forget they (or the few who believed this) ever exhibited this kind of insipid point of view. It was an emotional time. Sometimes emotions make us say and think stupid things. This movie is an example.

What with the 1943 "Gung Ho", "Guadalcanal Diary," "Purple Heart,"and other made-during-World War II films I saw as a kid on television, I had thought I had seen every racist anti-"Jap" propaganda movie evermade by Hollywood. But "First Yank Into Tokyo" is one I do notremember seeing as a kid. It is not only the most racist movie I haveever seen, it is probably simply the worst film I have ever seen in anycategory of motion picture. To me as an American who has lived inJapan for 30 years, the Asian-Americans playing Japanese soldiers areas obviously not racially Japanese as if someone had made a movie aboutWilliam the Conqueror fighting the Battle of Hastings in 1066 with acast of Europeans recruited entirely from Athens, Greece and Instanbul,Turkey. Everything, from the physical characteristics to themannerisms, is wrong. On the one hand, the film presents the Japanese as bespeckled, bucktoothed, arrogant goofs. On the other hand, when portraying aJapanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, the film makes theplace a country club compared to the real horrors encountered by anyonewho was held in a Japanese POW camp during the war. Overall, the film radiates an overwhelming ignorance and apathy bythe film makers towards any authenticity whatsoever.

I swear when I watched this movie as a child it was called " I Was a Jap for the F.B.I." Does anyone remember that or am I thinking of something else? I remember that the main character undergoes plastic surgery and the only way the Japanese are able to discover him is by watching films of old American college football games when he played and noticed he had a habit of twiddling his thumbs which he is still doing during a secret meeting with the Japanese.

When this film is mentioned at all, it is generally with a sneer. It has a reputation for being "cheesy," mostly because it feature Tom Neal in "Japanese" makeup. It's easy to judge movies from the past with today's eye and say they are racist, insensitive, etc., but keep in mind this was made while we were still at war. The disjointed ending is a result of the A-bomb being dropped before the film was finished. A new finale was thrown together so the whole thing made more sense. Not a great movie, but not bad...not bad at all.