Stop! (found unreleased Bill Gunn film; 1970)
Poster for the film "Stop" featuring Anna Aires and Edward Bell
Status: Partially found
Tags: Films
Stop! is a film directed by Bill Gunn, starring Marlene Clark, Anna Aries, and Edward Michael Bell. The film dealt with the frank issues of marriage, infidelity and martial dysfunction. It's cinematographer, Owen Roizman, received an Oscar for his work on The French Connection. After receiving an X rating, it was never formally released into theaters by Warner Brothers. However, it has since been shown privately in museums and archival collections since the death of Bill Gunn.
Synposis
Michael (Edward Bell) and Lee Berger (Linda Marsh) are an unhappily married couple looking to rekindle the spark in their marriage. After moving to Puerto Rico to live in a house Michael inherited from his brother (who killed himself after murdering his wife), they decide to try swinging, with disastrous results. The wounds in their marriage begin to open up, as each character becomes slowly undone mentally over the course of the film. However, while their personalities may clash, their bond is unbreakable.
Last Known Screenings
After Bill Gunn's death in 1989, The Whitney Museum of Art organized a screening of Stop in 1990 for it's New American Film & Video series [1]. It would not been screened again until April 4th of 2010, when BAM (Brooklyn Arts Museum) showed a VHS copy of Stop at a free screening. The film hasn't been seen since.
Rights Dispute
Rumors have sufficed over the years that Warner Brothers had disagreements with Bill Gunn over edits done to the film and as a result, several contracts for the film's principal performers contained errors or were lost. In addition to this, the film received an X rating from the MPAA. As a result, this lead to the film being shelved and never released.
However, in 2019, according to several online forums[2], Warner Bros clarified that they had struggled to release the film due to the failure of establishing the musical rights of background music in the film. According to Warner Bros, the film contains scenes of street performers and musicians that appear in the background of the film but are uncredited. A meeting was formally organized with "big wigs" regarding the release of the film to see if they could identify the music, but they were unsuccessful.
In 2019, Ganja and Hess actor Sam Waymons urged fans to write to Warner Brothers to let them know they are interested in seeing the film distributed. [3]