Space Jockey (lost unfinished Phil Tucker film; 1953)

Poster for Robot Monster, the film Tucker created after Space Jockey.

Status: Lost

Phil Tucker (1927-1985) is an American film director mostly known for directing the 1953 science-fiction movie Robot Monster, which starred one of the most infamous monsters of sci-fi cinema, Ro-Man - an alien looking like a gorilla wearing a diving helmet - and often listed among the worst movies of all time.

Tucker directed other exploitation movies, such as Pachuco (1957) about two Mexican-American hoodlums going to Mexico and Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960), about people turned into zombies by alien parasites.

Tucker revealed that, shortly before making Robot Monster, he started working on a movie that he never finished: Space Jockey.

All prints of Space Jockey had been lost, and Tucker himself was unable to find one. Himself describes this lost film as "probably the worst film ever made", "a real piece of shit" while he views his other films as "okay".

To this day, no copy, footage or sample of Space Jockey has reemerged.

The movie's title is similar to a famous nickname given to a deceased character in the 1979 Alien movie. However, it is unknown if it is only coincidental.

References

• The Golden Turkey Awards - Harry and Michael Medved (1980)