Original artwork, not a still
Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.
— Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb · 1964
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The joke is the whole film in one sentence: men who may be about to end the world are scrapping over etiquette in the room built to prevent it. Peter Sellers plays Muffley as a mild, exhausted referee, which makes the line funnier. It has been shouted at every real-life brawl in a boardroom, a parliament or an office ever since, and the American Film Institute ranks it among the top 100 movie lines.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombShow the scene
In Stanley Kubrick's 1964 Cold War black comedy, the US President is in the Pentagon War Room trying to stop a rogue general's B-52s from triggering nuclear war. Over General Turgidson's protest that the Soviet ambassador will see the Big Board, President Merkin Muffley brings Alexei de Sadeski into the room anyway. When Turgidson and the ambassador come to blows, Muffley breaks it up with this reproach. He then phones Soviet Premier Dimitri Kissov on the hot line to warn him about the attack.
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Dr. Strangelove (plot and cast)Plot summary; cast listReference checked
- Wikiquote: Dr. StrangeloveDialogue sectionReference checked
Context reviewed
