I think the book was better than the movie. James Whitmore looked like a minstrel without the big lip makeup. The real John Howard Griffin shaved his head and did look like a black man.

There have been a couple other people that did this experiment. The first guy to do it was journalist Ray Sprigle in 1948. He went to Georgia. He didn't use the anti-vitiligo drugss like those who came after him did, he just tanned himself up real good and shaved his head. I haven't seen photos of Sprigle when he went undercover, but he must have been convincing to the white Southerners he encountered. Here's his story: http://old.post-gazette.com/sprigle/Sprigleintroduction.asp

Grace Halsell did it in the 1960s and wrote a book called "Soul Sister" about her experiences. In the 1990s some college student did it and he talked about his experiences on Oprah.