Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tucson Kid

Crossroad Avenger is actually very good, with a good story line, decent acting by some longtime bit part actors who were nearing the end of their careers. I even found the name "Tucson Kid" very original, especially when given to a insurance investigator. Crossroad Avenger has a good story line, logical plot and bad guys with black hats, our hero wears a white hat in keeping with the trend. Ed Wood should have gotten a break on this one with the networks, it just might have made it on TV given a slightly bigger budget.

This is actually as good as some other shows that made it on TV in the early 1950's and better than some cowboy movies of the era. It's worth a tasty beverage and some munchies.

You will want to see this for the cast, including two of the best cowboy stars, Tom Keene and Tom Tyler, and three of the best villains, Lyle Talbot, Kenne Duncan, and Bud Osborne, and two others of talent but of whom I had not heard, villain Don Nagel and "desert rat" Harvey B. Dunn.

Since this was a pilot, one can suppose if it had sold there would have been better plot development in the future.

For a low-budget TV pilot, the production values are pretty good, but there are two problems: Tom Tyler was already in the throes of his ultimately fatal health problems and Tom Keene was looking somewhat past his prime, but only somewhat.

Again, I think if the pilot had sold, the very talented actors would have looked better and the scripts would be better and more detailed.

Tom Keene, even this late in his career, was always a very pleasant character, and a good cowboy. I need a lot of research to understand why he wasn't a huge star. He really deserved to be.

In sum, watch this for the nostalgia, I guess, and for the history, since the four cowboys (Keene, Tyler, Osborne, Duncan) are so much part and parcel of the Hollywood West and western.

For unknown reason, writer-director Ed Wood Jr, called this pilot Crossroad Avenger instead of the more accurate Tucson Kid. This is standard B-western fare without a strong lead character. Plus, the storyline is tedious and predictable.

Considering Ed Wood, wrote and directed such classics as Plan 9 From Outer Space and Bride of the Monster, this program is disappointing in that there is nothing perverse, unusual, ridiculous or comical. And, certainly nothing memorable. Also, it pales in comparison with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger, Zorro or even Bat Masterson.

Sadly, this is probably the most professional program written and directed by Ed but, unfortunately it is uninspired. Considering this is a pilot, the lead character is not strongly developed but then again this was written and produced many years ago.

This would have been more successful and enjoyable as a feature film although it still would not have been notable. If you seeking Ed Wood wackiness, then save your money. This is not the Ed Wood Jr. most of us know and love.

Tom Keene looks tired, as does half the cast of this half-hour TV pilot directed and written by the infamous Ed Wood, Jr. I bought a copy of the movie from Ray Dennis Steckler, and the best part of it was a little piece he (or someone) had taped on the end which included a commercial for Remington ammunition with Keene Duncan shooting at various forms of candy and food products (presumably items with which the juvenile audience could relate to in terms of size).

As for the pilot, it is crudely produced, with typical terrible Wood direction. At one point, the aged comedy actor simply lurches off the screen at a really odd angle. Others have posited that this show was equivalent to other material on the air at the time: I'd like to see it. Of course, all I've really been able to find is "The Lone Ranger" and "The Gene Autry Show", and on these shows professional directors and photographers were utilized, even if the writing was pretty standard. Ed Wood can be an interesting writer, but his direction is awful by any measure, and it shows even in this tiny prairie saga.

Not hard to understand why the pilot was picked up. There is no protagonist. Lyle Talbot is the obvious antagonist. When the Tucson Kid rides into town, it's Talbot with the demands to hang the stranger without a trial. But the real hero isn't the Tucson Kid, it's the . . . . Watch to figure it out.

This pilot isn't worse than some episodes of Superman (it even shares the same music) but it ambles all over the place. Think of it as the early Ed Wood Jr it is.An artifact of what was to come before Planet 9.