Let's Get Tough!

Propaganda pro-American war effort film that came out in 1942 has the East Side Kids getting tough against any Japanese they spot in their own neighborhood when they learn they're too young to enlist. Ultimately they learn they were mistaken in their mistrust of some individuals but also happen to stumble across a spy ring they then set out to bust. The film is harmless enough in its fashion although some may well take offense given how innocent Asians really did get singled out during the Second World War. Overall though, it's a pretty generic effort and both Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall would have better moments, the best of which tend to come here when they ad-lib.

This is one of the more wretched East Side Kids films--mostly because it is really mean-spirited and racist. Now some of this isn't surprising--after all, it was meant as a WWII propaganda film and instilling hatred of the Japanese and Germans in the American public was the purpose of this and other Hollywood films of the day. However, this film goes MUCH further--and seems to encourage the persecution of German and Japanese-Americans. Because of this and bad writing, it's a nasty little film.

The movie begins with the Kids wanting to do their part for the war effort. However, they try to enlist but they are repeatedly turned away because they are underage. So, they do the next best thing--they pick out what they THINK is a Japanese-American business and break in and trash the place! Here is the rub--they find out that the guy is really a Chinese-American, so they feel bad about this--as if the film is saying this sort of vigilantism is FINE provided you carefully pick your targets!! Unfortunately, when they are destroying the place, they find the owner's dead body--and this eventually leads them into a Nazi-Japanese spy ring. And, given that this is a bad film, they take on the entire spy ring all by themselves and succeed in keeping America safe.

As I said, the film is amazingly jingoistic. While I am NOT a politically correct sort of person, even I felt offended by the film and it's shabby messages. Pretty bad from start to finish. Oh, and did I mention the fried chicken and watermelon remarks made to their Black friend, Sunshine Sammy?!

Let's Get Tough is one of those movies that people probably regret years later that they made. Full of awful racist Jap talk and jokes, this East End Kids story details how the kids want to join the military to defeat the Japs. Since they're too young, they decide to clean the town out of those dastardly Japs. They find one, throw fruit at it (without anyone doing anything to stop them) and he pulls a short sword out to menace them! The cops say to stop annoying him! He's only Chinese! He's on our side! When the kids go back to apologize, the Chinese man's dead! It's all part of this huge Jap and German Spy ring! The kids see to it that this is stopped At All Costs! I'm sure all of this was fine when it was made (1942) but viewed now, you realize of course, that this is clearly a product of it's time. Full of stereotypes, German and Japanese. Funny how the East End Kids have a black kid in the group, and he's not spared either. Gee whiz.

I can't say that I enjoyed this movie. It's anti Japanese propaganda made to look like a comedy. It didn't offend me in any way. It just wasn't funny. It was interesting where it shows how people thought 70 years ago.

For the most part, the material in this East Side Kids feature is, in itself, fair to about average for the series. The main point of interest comes in its depiction of the gang in the days following Pearl Harbor, when the national mood had swung suddenly in favor of war with Japan. Like a good number of other movies in this era, including others in the same series, this one takes many opportunities to promote its version of patriotism.

The story has the gang turned away from the enlistment offices because of their young ages, and proceeding instead to channel their energies into taking on a local group of Axis spies and sympathizers. The stereotyped depictions of the Japanese and German characters may not have elicited any significant degree of objection at the time, but they are very obvious now. Only the generally comic tone of the movie keeps them from becoming a more serious flaw.

In itself, the story and the movie do have their share of good moments, usually when Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, and the rest are allowed to indulge their free-wheeling style for a bit. There are better features in the series, but this one is all right, and it provides an interesting example of the many kinds of movies, stars, and genres from the early 1940s that showed a strong wartime influence.