Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen
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| Back to the Future character | |
 Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen |
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| Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1850s |
| Age (1885) | 28 (approx) |
| Gender | Masculine |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Played by | Thomas F. Wilson |
| Voiced by | Thomas F. Wilson |
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 great-grandfather 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). Wilson has said his performance as Buford was inspired by Lee Marvin's character in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
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 (identified in the script as Stubble, Ceegar and Buck) 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; indeed, they do not actually speak to each other during the course of the film.
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 Back to the Future. 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 Back to the Future Part III took place. The latter is more likely, as a documentarian in Back to the Future Part II confirms that Buford is in fact Biff's great grandfather. It is not unreasonable to assume his son was already born at this time, this would have made the son at least 70 in 1955 and therefore Gertrude being approximately the same age.
Buford also has problems counting (he does not know that "7" comes after "6") and shares his great grandson's trouble with mixed metaphors (at one point during the movie, he says "I'll hunt you and shoot you down like a duck" instead of "dog.")
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[edit] 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 an unfavorable 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.
[edit] Back to the Future Part II
Buford's role in the trilogy is foreshadowed twice in the previous film. While in 2015- and meeting Buford's 3rd-great-grandson Griff- Marty plays the videogame Wild Gunman. The main character of this game is named Mad Dog. When Marty returns to the 1985 that Biff Tannen has altered by way of time travel and a sports almanac, he finds that Biff now has a museum dedicated to his life. A documentary makes mention of Buford Tannen. Buford picture is also seen briefly and appears noticably different than he does in the third film, sporting a large beard, as producers had not yet decided what Buford would look like in the third film. The simplest explanation is that Buford had shaved off his beard sometime prior to the events of the third film (or grew it sometime after).
[edit] 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 horseshoe incident he reckoned that Doc owed him $80 ($75 for the horse that he shot, the other $5 for a bottle 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 on the night of September 5, 1885 at the Hill Valley Festival (celebrating 20 years of cityhood and the arrival of the new clock) Buford attempted to rape Doc's love interest, Clara Clayton, whom he had met while picking up from the train station. Doc tried to intervene, but Buford has his lackeys hold Doc in position to shoot him in the back. This caused Doc to die 2 days later on Monday.
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 hanged 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 (although usually he is called a "chicken").
The next morning, Sunday, September 6, 1885, Buford and his gang robbed the Pine City Stage before spending the night by the lake. It is possible that this was their "lair" in the Hill Valley area. On Monday, September 7, 1885, they headed into town to meet "Clint" outside the Palace Saloon at 8am. Marty had realised that it did not matter what Buford thought of him, and he and Doc tried escaping. Unfortunately Buford spotted them and kidnapped Doc, causing Marty to have to face Buford after all. Luckily, he used a stove as a bulletproof vest (as foreshadowed in Part II while Biff is watching A Fistful of Dollars in his hot tub)- and then fought Buford by punching him and hitting him with the stove. This knocked Buford out, causing him to fall into a cartload of manure, beginning a family tradition of sorts that his great-grandson would continue by repeatedly crashing his car into manure trucks. Buford was then arrested for robbing the Pine City Stage and led away. It is implied by Marshal Strickland that he would be hanged for his crimes.
In the original version of Back to the Future Part III, Buford also shot Marshal Strickland while Strickland's son was present. This would have been what Tannen was arrested for at the end (and why Buford is arrested by Strickland's deputy not Strickland himself). This scene was cut though for not being suitable for a Back to the Future movie.
[edit] Back to the Future: The Animated Series
Although Buford did not appear in any episodes, eagle eyed viewers might have noticed that he does briefly appear in the opening credits of the first season. Doc picks up Clara from 1885 to take her back to 1991, and Buford is bothering her. She kicks him and pulls his hat over his head before getting in the DeLorean and heading home.
The animated series also revealed his siblings, although Buford was not mentioned in that episode - it is possible he arrived in Hill Valley after Thaddeus did, or he was away somewhere else at the time.
It is also possible that "Wild Bill" Tannen from "Clara's Folks" could have been a cousin to Buford.
| Back to the Future Characters | ||
| The McFly Family Marty McFly | George McFly | Lorraine Baines McFly | Jennifer Parker | Seamus & Maggie McFly | Dave McFly | Linda McFly | Marty McFly, Jr | Marlene McFly |
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| The Brown Family Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown | Clara Clayton Brown | Jules Brown | Verne Brown | Einstein |
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| The Tannen Family Biff Tannen | Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen | Griff Tannen |
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| Other Characters Mr. Strickland | Marshall Strickland | Match, Skinhead & 3-D | Goldie Wilson | Douglas J Needles |
