Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen is the main antagonist in Back to the Future Part III. He was a local outlaw/bandit that lived in Hill Valley, California in the year 1885 and is the great-grandfather of Biff Tannen and also the great-great-grandfather of Griff Tannen.
Personality[]
Buford has a short-temper and is quick-to-anger. He strongly hates it whenever someone calls by his nickname 'Mad Dog' as it can provoke him to aggression whenever it is said to his face. For an unknown reason, he has a hatred of Irish farmer Seamus McFly, the great-grandfather of Marty McFly, as Buford had warned him not to enter the Palace Saloon again.
Despite being bad-tempered, Buford is also known for being prideful and egotistical as he likes to brag about himself and his killings; This was shown in historical records in which he bragged about killing twelve men.
Biography[]
Not much is known about Buford Tannen's past but that he was born in the year 1857. He would come to be called "Mad Dog" as a result of his bad temper and his tendency to drool. According to historical records he had shot twelve men, though Chinamen and Indians are not included. Records stopped in 1884 after Buford murdered a newspaper editor, who printed an unfavorable story of him.
On September 2, 1882, Buford marries an unknown woman and the two bore a son named "Mugsy" Tannen, who would become a dangerous crime boss a century later.
Three years later on September 6, 1885, Buford and his gang of outlaws were reported to have robbed a stagecoach called the Pine City Stage, which resulted in Buford's arrest by Marshal James Strickland and he was given a ten-day sentence in jail.
Timeline alternated[]
After Emmett "Doc" Brown and his DeLorean were sent back in time to 1885 as a result of a thunderstorm in Hill Valley, Doc sets up a blacksmithing business. During that time, he was approached by Buford Tannen, who asked him to shoe his horse but didn't pay him for the job. When the horseshoe came off, Buford shot his horse, presumably killing it before going off to steal another one.
On September 3, which was three days prior to the robbery of the Pine City Stage, Buford began looking for Doc, as the latter owes him $80 dollars, due to the horseshoe incident (this makes it $75 for the horse Buford shot and $5 for a bottle of whisky that he accidentally busted). When threatened by Buford, Doc reminds him that since he didn't pay him for the job then that makes them even, causing Buford to warn him to watch his back in the future.
Two days later, during the Hill Valley Festival, which was held to celebrate twenty years since the founding of Hill Valley, Buford confronts Doc a second time and mortally wounds him by shooting him in the back of the head. This would result in Doc's demise as he passed away two days later. His lover, Clara Clayton, erects a gravestone in his memory. She even has enough courage to include Buford Tannen's name on the grave's epitaph.
Timeline alternated a second time[]
During his stay in the year of 1955, Marty McFly, along with the Doc of that year, discovers the Tombstone in a cemetery. Traveling back in time to 1885, Marty sought to change Doc's fate. In the Palace Saloon, he encountered Buford, who mistook him for Seamus McFly, as Marty was wearing one of his hats. Not revealing who he really is, Marty lies to Buford that his name is Clint Eastwood, which Buford mocks. When Marty accidentally calls him "Mad Dog" Tannen, this consequently angered Buford in the process and he began shooting at Marty's legs, causing Marty to do Michael Jackson's moon walk, which left Buford baffled. Marty then makes a bucket full of disgusting liquid land on Buford. Now provoked, Buford attempted to kill Marty for humiliating him but his revolver is out of bullets, allowing Marty to escape the saloon.
After a short chase, Buford catches Marty with a lasso before hanging him via a pulley. Before Marty could choke to death, he was saved by Doc. Not happy to see him, Buford threatens him over the horseshoe incident only for Doc to retort back that their even, as Buford didn't pay for his service. After an argument, Buford warns him that he'll get a bullet in his back before leaving. Later that evening, at the Hill Valley Festival, Buford, during his second confrontation with Doc, Buford attempts to shoot him in the back of the head with a Derringer. Though it look like fate is on the verge of being fulfilled, Marty immediately saves Doc's life by throwing a pie plate like a frisbee, which caused Buford to knock Doc's hat off his head instead of killing him. Ultimately as a result, the past was alternated, causing Doc's name on his gravestone back in 1955 to be completely erased.
Marty proceeded to call Buford a jerk. Despite being unfamiliar with the word, the latter takes it as an insult. When Marty demands that he leave Doc and Clara alone before walking away, Buford proceeded to call him "Yellow" and "Yellow Belly", which had a big effect on Marty, as a result of a severe insecurity of being called a "Chicken". When Buford attempts to settle the score, one of his gang members reminds him that Marshall Strickland has their guns. Changing his mind, Buford immediately challenges Marty to a shootout tomorrow on Monday right outside the Palace Saloon.
Familiar with Westerns, Marty, who is still affected by his insecurity, assumes that the shootout will take place at "high noon", only for Buford to brag that "he does his killings before breakfast" and sets the shootout to 7AM, leading Marty to brag in a similar manner by stating that "he does his killings after breakfast", at 8AM. This caused both Doc and Seamus McFly to realize that Buford had manipulated Marty.
Before the confrontation could go any further, Marshall Strickland immediately comes by (shotgun in hand) to demand on what is going on. Buford tells him that it is just a "little personal matter" with "Eastwood" and that it doesn't concern the law. As the festivities resumes, Buford tells Marty that their shootout will now take place at the aforementioned time before warning him that if he doesn't show up he'll be hunted and shot down like a "duck". One of the gang members immediately corrects him by saying that word he was supposed to say is 'dog'. Buford and his gang leaves soon after.
The next day, as was predicted, Buford and his gang robbed the Pine City Stage. Later at exactly 8AM, he arrives at the Palace Saloon where Marty is trying to wake up a drunken Doc. When Buford calls out to him, Marty, knowing that he'll never defeat the former in a shootout, tells him that he is withdrawing. Though confused by the word at first, but upon learning on what it means by one of his gang members, Buford immediately objects it, protesting that Marty can't withdraw from the shootout.