Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen

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).

Related Topics:
Fictional character - Back to the Future Part III - Outlaw - Hill Valley - California - United States - 1885 - Biff Tannen - Thomas F. Wilson

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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. 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.

Related Topics:
Bully - Seamus McFly - Irish - Farmer - Saloon

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Buford has a very short temper and a tendency to drool, thus earning him the nickname of "Mad Dog", a name he hates. When Marty McFly, a time traveller from 1985 (who introduced himself as Clint Eastwood), accidentally called him by that nickname, Buford nearly hung him from the courthouse - fortunately for Marty, Doctor Emmett L. "Doc" Brown was able to save him. Originally, Buford shot Doc dead on September 7 1885 after Doc refused to pay $80 that Buford claimed he owed him, but thanks to Marty this event was altered and Buford went to prison for robbing the Pine City Stage on the 7th.

Related Topics:
Marty McFly - 1985 - Clint Eastwood - Doctor Emmett L. "Doc" Brown - September 7 - Prison

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Buford also 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. In the original version of Back to the Future Part III, he also shot Marshal Strickland while his son was present.

Related Topics:
Indians - China - 1884 - Newspaper - Editor - Marshal

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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 Biff's great-great grandfather directly.

Related Topics:
Back to the Future - Part II

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