Crossroads of Laredo is a Western film compiled by extant silent footage of the unfinished Streets of Laredo (c. 1948), the first known film project of Ed Wood. It runs 23 minutes in length.[1] Wood was the director, the writer, and one of the actors of the film.[2] The film today includes an added music score by Ben Weisman and added narration by Cliff Stone, but still plays like a silent movie with a sound effects track.[1] The film was not restored, as its myriad scratches and splices are still very evident (it was shot on very inferior quality film stock initially).
The original footage was located by Brett Thompson, John Crawford Thomas, and Wood's ex-girlfriend Dolores Fuller. (John Crawford Thomas had produced the film back in 1948 and saved the extant footage for decades, hoping to some day do something with it.) They were responsible for editing the film and adding a soundtrack to it.
Dolores Fuller wrote an original theme song for the picture and had Elvis Presley Jr. sing it on the film's soundtrack. The film was first shown at a special screening in Hollywood in 1995, along with the premiere of the 1995 documentary The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr.. The screening was in tribute to Ed Wood and was attended by many of Wood's friends and acquaintances, including Paul Marco, Maila Nurmi (Vampira), Dolores Fuller, John Crawford Thomas, Conrad Brooks, Gregory Walcott, Ann Robinson, the Reverend Lyn Lemon and make-up man Harry Thomas. It was later included on the DVD release of the documentary in 2005, digitally restored.[1]