Phil Tucker

Who was Phil Tucker?

Phil Tucker was an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. While Tucker directed his first six feature films in the span of two years, he is best known for his first film, the science fiction B movie Robot Monster, often considered an example of "so bad it's good" film-making in the Ed Wood vein, and for the Lenny Bruce movie Dance Hall Racket.

It's rumored that a 1953 suicide attempt took place in response to the poor reception of Robot Monster. According to Keep Watching The Skies! by Bill Warren, his attempted suicide was actually fueled by depression and a dispute with the film's distributor, who had allegedly refused to pay Tucker his contracted percentage of the film's profits. There are further claims that after 1955, Tucker was blacklisted within the film industry, though he did go on to direct a number of other productions, including 1960's The Cape Canaveral Monsters. Year prior, Tucker directed Lenny Bruce and Bruce's wife Honey Harlow in 1953's Dance Hall Racket.

By the 1970s Tucker had established himself as a formidable film editor, finally escaping the stigma of his early directorial work. He contributed to such well-known films as Orca and the 1976 remake of King Kong, and remained in post-production throughout the rest of his career.