Movies - Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen

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Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen is a fictional character in Back to the Future Part III
— he is a town outlaw in Hill Valley, California, United States in the year 1885. He is the ancestor of Biff Tannen from the first two Back to the Future films. The role of Buford Tannen is played by Thomas F. Wilson (who also played Biff).

Buford has a very short temper and a tendency to drool, thus earning him the nickname of "Mad Dog", a name he hates. Buford does not seem to have any fixed address, and he and his gang of three ride around the Hill Valley area, robbing, shooting and bullying the local people. For some reason, he took a dislike to Seamus McFly, warning the Irish farmer not to enter the Palace Saloon ever again. Seamus does not take much notice of Buford though and will not fight with him.

Little is known about Buford's family life, other than he will eventually have a son who will marry Gertrude and produce Biff's unnamed father. The animated series reveals him to have a brother, Thaddeus Tannen, and a sister, in 1875, although this is not taken as canon by many fans.

The actions of Marty and Doc apparently did not change the history of the Tannen family, as Biff Tannen has the same personality and relation to the McFly family as he did at the end of the first Back to the Future film. This has led some fans to believe that Buford is not actually a direct ancestor of Biff, but a relative with the same last name, or possibly that Buford's son was already born before the events in Part III took place. The latter is more likely, as a documentarian in Part II confirms that Buford is in fact Biff's great grandfather. It isn't unreasonable to assume his son was already born at this time, this would have made him at least 70 in 1955 (although it is believed Biff's grandfather is dead by this time) and therefore Gertrude being approximately the same age.

Buford also has problems counting (he doesn't know that "7" comes after "6") and just like his great grandson, can never say sayings correctly (he thinks the saying is "I'll hunt you and shoot you down like a duck" instead of "dog"!).

Pre-Back to the Future Part III

Buford shot 12 men, not including Indians or Chinamen, before 1884; records were stopped after Buford shot dead a newspaper editor who printed a story about him in that year.

At some point between January 1 and September 1, 1885, Buford asked Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown, who had set up a blacksmithing business while trapped in 1885, to shoe his horses; Buford did not pay for this job. Later the shoe came off and Buford shot the horse.

==Back to the Future Part III
== Buford arrived in Hill Valley in the morning of September 3, 1885 - he was looking for Doc, as due to the horeshoe incident he reckoned that Doc owed him $80 ($75.00 for the horse that he shot. The other $5.00 for a botttle of "Red Eye" whiskey he had busted in the accident). He threatened Doc, who said that since Buford never paid him for the job that made them even. Buford told Doc to watch his back in the future.

Two days later, at the Hill Valley Festival (celebrating 20 years of cityhood and the arrival of the new clock) Buford shot Doc in the back with a Derringer gun. This caused Doc to die 2 days later, and his gravestone was dedicated to him by his "beloved Clara".

Luckily, Marty McFly in 1955 found the gravestone and headed back to 1885 in the DeLorean time machine to save Doc. After he accidentally called Buford "Mad Dog", Buford nearly hung him from the courthouse - fortunately for Marty, Doc was able to save him. Buford now regarded "Clint Eastwood" (the name Marty was using in 1885) as his enemy. At the dance two days later, Doc escaped being shot by Buford, as he now knew about it from Marty. Marty saved Doc from being shot by throwing a Frisbee at the gun, causing Buford to miss. Buford challenged "Clint" to a shootout Monday morning, causing Marty to agree by calling him "yellow", Marty's one weakness.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen ]

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