Robert W. Sullivan IV

In Back to the Future II (1989), the Biff Tannen wax figure’s left hand (perhaps denoting the Left-Hand Path) pinches a gold horseshoe, signifying his unparalleled good luck, but generates a weird paradox, an ill omen, i.e., misfortune. The gold horseshoe appears briefly, syncing the video homage to “Mad Dog” Tannen on the monitor, foreshadowing a future event that will occur in the past. In Back to the Future III (1990), Buford shoots and kills Doc Brown over an 80-dollar dispute regarding a thrown horseshoe; in the late summer of 1885, Doc shooed Mad Dog’s horse, but when the shoe was thrown, Buford was hurled to the ground, so he shot the steed dead (valued at $75), broke a bottle of fine Kentucky Red Eye Whiskey (worth $5) that he was drinking, and wants Doc to recompense him for both. Cinema Symbolism Third Edition is coming along nicely.