ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. - The owner of two Kentucky theaters has refused to show the new Jane Fonda film "Monster-in-Law" because of the activist role the actress took during the Vietnam War.
Ike Boutwell, who trained pilots during the Vietnam War, displayed pictures of Fonda clapping with a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft crew in 1972 outside the Elizabethtown Movie Palace to show his disapproval. The marquee outside Showtime Cinemas in nearby Radcliff reads: "No Jane Fonda movie in this theater."
Both theaters are just a few miles from the Army post of Fort Knox, south of Louisville.
"I think when people do something, they need to be held responsible for their actions," Boutwell said. "When you give the enemy aid, it makes the war last longer."
Fonda has apologized for being photographed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun, but not for opposing the war.
"Monster-in-Law" raked in more than $23 million last weekend as the top-grossing movie across the country, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. and Nielsen EDI Inc. In the film, Fonda plays Jennifer Lopez's villainous prospective mother-in-law, trying to stop Lopez from marrying her son.
Sal Mancuso, an Elizabethtown resident, said he personally thanked Boutwell for not showing the film.
"I think Vietnam veterans appreciate this," said Mancuso, who fought in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam war. "There is no defense for what she did."
Boutwell also banned previous Jane Fonda films, as well as Michael Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 9/11."
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