History Main / WeHaveTheKeys

* In ''Film/{{The PinkPanther|1963}}'', Clouseau is about to shoot the lock off of a door, when Tucker says "Don't do that, old man" and casually opens the unlocked door.

Contrast CuttingTheKnot, where violence ''is'' the simple option. Also contrast InterchangeableAntimatterKeys.

* In ''Film/ThePinkPanther1963'', Clouseau is about to shoot the lock off of a door, when Tucker says "Don't do that, old man" and casually opens the unlocked door.

** [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor "The Day of the Doctor"]] sees three incarnations of our hero shut away in the Tower of London together, trying to work out how to get through a wooden door (it's [[RockBeatsLaser too primitive to hack with a sonic screwdriver]]). After some discussion, they work out a way to do it, but it would require hundreds of years to do the calculations. But, since they're all from different timestreams, if the ''earliest'' Doctor inputs the calculations into his screwdriver, the ''newest'' one will have the result stored away in his! They confirm it, congratulate themselves on their cleverness... and then Clara walks in.
--->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' ...how did you do that?\\

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E10InTheForestOfTheNight "In the Forest of the Night"]]: A little girl is being chased by wolves, but runs into a tall fence. Clara urges her to climb the fence and she'll help her over. The girl ignores her, moving several steps to the side and opening a gate.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E6Praxeus "Praxeus"]]: Jake is trying to break down a heavy metal door to get to Adam when Yaz and Graham arrive with skeleton keys. Subverted soon afterwards when they encounter another door which Jake kicks open.

* Around the time that Star Wars: Episode 1 debuted in theaters, Magazine/{{MAD}} Magazine featured a strip which parodied an early scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-gon Jin use their lightsabers to cut open a locked door. In the strip, Qui-gon is the only one doing anything, and is clearly struggling... until he's about half-way through, at which point Obi-wan produces the keys.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Seven episodes later show why they don't bother with keys. When Rogue and ComicBook/{{Storm}} try breaking out Colossus, Rogue had the wrong key and simply ripped the door off the hinges.

--> '''Eddy''': "There's a ''knob'', Ed."

* In ''Webcomic/{{Spacetrawler}}'', Emily Taylor decides to fly up after someone who's withholding information, in hopes that she can beat it out of him. Stangor, a strictly B-list villain with a vendetta against Emily, instead decides to be kind enough to [[https://www.baldwinpage.com/spacetrawler/2020/02/10/021020-flyings-not-smart/ show the rest of the cast]] that sometimes, the smarter way is just to look up the information on an unlocked terminal left behind when the information broker flew off. It later seems that [[https://www.baldwinpage.com/spacetrawler/2020/02/19/021920-escape-plan/ this is his schtick.]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E6Praxeus "Praxeus"]]: Jake is trying to break down a heavy metal door to get to Adam when Yaz and Graham arrive with skeleton keys. Subverted soon afterwards when they encounter another door which the Jake kicks open.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* A variant in ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'': Rizzo very reluctantly climbs up a gate and jumps off, and then, realising he's left his jellybeans behind, ''slips through the bars'' to get them.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', shortly before joining the hero's party, Alena can be seen kicking down the door to a dungeon. This confuses her current companions greatly, as ''she'' was the one carrying a key to that door. After mulling it over for a bit they conclude that she must just like kicking doors.

* In the Goblin starting zone in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', you rescue Goblins locked in cages by strapping rockets to the cages and launching them into orbit. While doing this, some of them will tell you the guards have the keys; sure enough the guards will occasionally drop a key, but this way is far more fun.

* Played with but ultimately averted in the first installment of the ''VideoGame/{{SWAT}}'' series. In all missions where the player is able to interview the home or building owner beforehand, they will provide the keys needed to get inside and the team will use them during the entry. However, [[DevelopersForesight if the player does not report that they have the keys to their superiors]], the SWAT team commander will initially suggest [[ShootOutTheLock using a shotgun]] to breach the door during the briefing. The player character will then automatically mention the keys, and the mission will proceed normally.

* In ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES'', Alex uses his Super Scope to burst a hole in the door to Nexus, which causes problems down the line. He already had the key to the door in the form of a ring. In this case, the person who points out that he had the key was Ryan, witnessing this via some sort of flashback power from the future, with future!Alex sheepily mentioning that, at the time, he hadn't ''realized'' he was carrying the key.
* A variation in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Logann [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1169.html charges through a blade barrier]], sucking up the damage it deals. As he delivers a BadassBoast, Durkon dispels the blade barrier and heals his injuries.

* In ''Anime/DragonBall'', the third episode has {{Filler}} where the Pilaf Gang raid Kame House for a Dragon Ball. Pilaf struggles with opening the locked door, prompting Shu and Mai to point out the conspicuously open window next to it by climbing through it.

* Played with in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Starfighters of Adumar]]''. Wedge Antilles and his fellow pilots are on the run from the citizens of Adumar, and encounter a door. Wedge orders the lock shot out, but fellow pilot Hobbie simply opens the door instead -- it was unlocked.
-->'''Hobbie:''' [[LampshadeHanging Worth trying]].

* In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', Laverne [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=5gE0lGRlxeE punches and breaks the window of Turk's car]] to help Carla steal Steven. Carla screams and points out that she has the keys.
* In the first season of ''Series/TwentyFour'', Jack Bauer and George Mason come upon a fence. Jack immediately hops over it, while George rolls his eyes and strolls through the gate.

* In ''Series/{{Wallander}}'', Martinsson and Wallander are trying to enter a colleague's locked apartment, and Martinsson enthusiastically offers to kick down the door. [[GilliganCut Cut to]] the apartment building's superintendent coming up the stairs with a master key.
* Happens when the ''Series/RedDwarf'' crew was locked in a dungeon by a lot of clones of Rimmer. While they don't have ''keys'' per se, Lister describes laying out a complicated system of traps to escape, while Kryten simply replies, "Or, we could use the teleporter", which they had acquired earlier from a derelict spaceship.
* On ''Series/{{Wings}}''. To defend the Hackett house from a prowler lurking outside, roommate Lowell grabs a shotgun and breaks one of the living room windows with it. An exasperated Joe informs him, "Lowell, the window opens!"

** "The Day of the Doctor" special sees three incarnations of our hero shut away in the Tower of London together, trying to work out how to get through a wooden door (it's [[RockBeatsLaser too primitive to hack with a Sonic Screwdriver]]). After some discussion, they work out a way to do it, but it would require hundreds of years to do the calculations. But, since they're all from different timestreams, if the ''earliest'' Doctor inputs the calculations into his Screwdriver, the ''newest'' one will have the result stored away in his! They confirm it, congratulate themselves on their cleverness...and then Clara walks in.
-->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' ...how did you do that?\\

'''Clara:''' ''(dumbfounded)'' ''Three'' of you in one cell and ''none of you'' thought to try the door?!\\

** "In The Forest of the Night". A little girl is being chased by wolves, but runs into a tall fence. Clara urges her to climb the fence and she'll help her over. The girl ignores her, moving several steps to the side and opening a gate.
* Series/JonathanCreek helpfully whips out a set of lockpicks to take care of the fact that [[TheWatson his Watson]] Maddy has had her car clamped. Maddy is both grateful and impressed, but it turns out that she has the key for it herself and uses it as camouflage.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In "Random Acts of Violence", Gil is searching for evidence in a street when two patrol officers turn up to investigate a possible burglary at an empty and locked house. Discovering the driveway gate is locked, they prepare to climb over it. Gil walks round the corner and finds the side gate is open.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': Villain example. In "Techno-Team", Stavros Garkos' finance company takes over a laboratory and he decides to break in to mess with a worker's research so she'll have no choice but help him with one of his plans. When he arrives at night, his henchman Genghis is ready to use a crowbar to open the door when he points out that, as the place's owner, he has the keys.

* Budget Direct insurance had a parody of the "[[DefectiveDetective eccentric genius detective]] who [[BunnyEarsLawyer gets results]]". In a montage of his investigation the detective SherlockScans where the house key has been hidden in the front garden just as the uniformed police use a battering ram to break down the door.

'''Riley:''' I have a master key. It opens every shop on main street.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''':

Along the lines of ThereWasADoor, an Action Hero proves his manliness by [[OpenSaysMe busting down or through a locked door]], or hotwiring a car so he can steal it. After he's proven his manliness in this fashion, one of his companions holds up the keys to the [[DoorTropes door]] or car in question, which prompts a remark from the Hero.

This includes examples when the hero ''fails'' with his tactic, and the companion uses the simpler way, which works. Another possibility is that the companion unlocks the door (or tries it and finds that it wasn't locked in the first place) just before the hero breaks it down. Having a KeyUnderTheDoormat is a frequent way of doing this.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Franky goes to the trouble of finding the keys to Caimie's ExplosiveLeash, only to discover Rayleigh has already removed it by detonating it and pulling it off before the explosion reaches Caimie

** "The Day of the Doctor" special sees three incarnations of our hero shut away in the Tower of London together, trying to work out how to get through a wooden door (it's [[RockBeatsLaser too primitive to hack with a Sonic Screwdriver]]). After some discussion, they work out a way to do it, but it would require hundreds of years to do the calculations. But, since they're all from different timestreams, if the ''earliest'' Doctor inputs the calculations into the Screwdriver, the ''newest'' one will have the result stored away in his! They confirm it, congratulate themselves on their cleverness...and then Clara walks in.

* A RunningGag on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' is Perry the Platypus smashing into Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lair, only for the doctor to bemoan the damage done to his home. At one point he specifically states he gave Perry a set of keys for exactly that reason. On a few occassions he wasn't even doing anything evil, so Perry reimburses him for the damage.

-->'''Professor Dementor:''' Why did you have to break down the door? It ''wasn't locked''! [[NoIndoorVoice I JUST HAD IT PAINTED!!]]

** "The Day of the Doctor" special sees three incarnations of our hero shut away in the Tower of London together, trying to work out how to get through a wooden door (it's [[RockBeatsLaser too primitive to hack with a Sonic Screwdriver]]). After some discussion, they work out a way to do it, but it would require hundreds of years to do the calculations. [[spoiler:But, since they're all from different timestreams, if the ''earliest'' Doctor inputs the calculations into the Screwdriver, the ''newest'' one will have the result stored away in his! They confirm it, congratulate themselves on their cleverness...and then Clara walks in. The door wasn't actually locked.]]

* A RunningGag on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' is Perry the Platypus smashing into Dr. Doofenshmirtz's lair, only for the doctor to bemoan the damage done to his home. At one point he specifically states he gave Perry a set of keys for exactly that reason.

* Nanny from ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'', although this is more a lethal combination of absent-mindedness and [[GentleGiant not knowing her own strength]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' do this when Timmy and Cosmo want to enter Cosmo's mom's house. After Timmy broke the door using Cosmo as a Battering Ram, Cosmo states that he still has the house's keys.
-->'''Timmy:''' Yes, I knew.

--> Eddy: "There's a ''knob'', Ed."