There are many forgotten, misplaced and simply lost films out there, one that really stands out is The Limit from 1972, directed, written by and starring the fantastic Yaphet Kotto. It’s got everything that should make it a must see: a great lead who also makes his directorial debut, police, bikers, revenge, action, that 1970s exploitation aesthetic that we all love and more. This should have played on TV back in the 1970s, been released on VHS in the 1980s, hit DVD in the 2000s and then have an extras loaded Blu-ray released by one of the many boutique labels out there now. But no, there’s none of that, after its original cinema release in 1972 this film seemingly vanished, the only thing we have are posters and a few stills, not even the trailer has surfaced after all these years.

We don’t have the film, we don’t have any leads on it, but I did feel that by maybe pulling as much information as I can find together for it, it might help in a little way to either bring the film to life, or to jog someone’s memory about where a long forgotten 35MM print of this film might be sitting gathering dust.

So above are the two posters that exist for the film, the yellow one turns up on eBay once in a while, there’s loads of images of that around as well, so it’s not hard to track down. Then there’s this still which Historic Images have for sale right now on their website, the best thing about this still is that on the other side there’s a review of the film pasted on the back!

Here’s a clear version of the review for you:

CHICAGO DAILY NEWS – JUN 19 1972

“The Limit” at the Woods Theatre, is a movie about a Black Cop who has lots of trouble with a Motorcycle Gang. I capitalize the characters because there are no real people in the film, only vague sociological abstracts.

Yaphet Kotto, who plays the cop, also wrote and directed the film. He is an extremely intense actor, a younger version of Brock Peters, and I had hoped “The Limit” would at least exhibit more of the sullen, brooding power he brought to the fugitive black man in “The Liberation of L. B. Jones.”

BUT the script is so awful that even Kotto, the author seems embarrassed and just stands around sheepishly, being taunted by the cycle creeps until one of them molests his girl, which gives him a chance to explode and for the film to end in a predictably sadistic brawl that seems to go on forever.

The story mopes along with no tension of pacing, while the actors stare at the camera or Kotto and his pretty flame (Pamela Jones) hug and kiss to a sort of Funk Muzak. Ted Cassidy gives and oddly touching performance as Big Donny, the lantern-jawed, pre-historic leader of the gang who realizes his life is pretty rotten, but we never learn enough about anyone in the film to know where they came from, where they are going, or why we should care.

So that review didn’t think much of The Limit, but it doesn’t put us off wanting to see it, by now just watching the film would be fun, even if it turns out to not be the best.

This review from 1972 in the New York Times is more positive about the film, take a read here.

What else is there? Well this might be the best find, The Limit and Yaphet were featured on the cover of the June 1972 issue of Jet magazine! And thanks to the wonder of Google we can head straight back to that issue and take a look at what Yaphet had to say about his film right there and then.

So that’s a great insight on the film from the man himself, as well as those great stills from the film, which make me want to see it even more now. Will it ever turn up? We hope so, it’s nice to think that Yaphet himself must have had a copy of his own film, in any format. If anyone ever has a lead on this film, let us know, let the world know, just shout, someone will come running to get it!

Update 19th October 2025:
Found an interesting new promo still from The Limit listed on ebay recently, a close up picture of Yaphet Kotto, while the back dates it to “3 May 72” and mentions the interesting detail “World Premiere Wed, May 3, Grand Circus Theatre”, which would have made in Detroit, as that’s the only theatre with that name listed on the great Cinema Treasures website.