Critic Surrenders in Blythe Battle Over Movie Reviews

Blythe’s lone film critic has resigned because the community’s only movie theater has made it impossible for her to meet her newspaper’s deadline.

Palo Verde Valley Times critic Cathy Monnett, who was banned from the Blythe Community Cinema in December because the owners said her reviews were too negative, had been fighting for permission to enter the theater and resume her work.

Before she was banned, Monnett watched movies on Wednesday nights and wrote reviews, which were published in the community’s only newspaper--the weekly Palo Verde Valley Times--on the following Friday. The newspaper is printed on Thursdays in Kingman, Ariz., about 180 miles north of Blythe.

The theater, which is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, has decided to shut down on Wednesdays as well. The result: Monnett’s reviews would not appear until the next week, by which time the theater would have changed films.

“It made no sense to continue the fight,” Monnett said. “Even if they let me in on Thursday, my reviews would not appear until the following week, and by that time they would be showing a different movie.”

When told that Monnett had quit her job, theater co-owner Paul Davis said, “Good,” then referred all questions to his attorney and brother, Don Davis.

Don Davis insisted that the decision to close the struggling 600-seat theater on Wednesdays was an economic one and not intended to prevent Monnett from doing her job.

“She’s not that important,” Davis said. “The theater business is seasonal, and when business slows down . . . we close on Wednesdays.”

Davis said the theater may reopen on Wednesdays around Easter and during the summer.

“That’s bunk; the connection is obvious,” said Harold Stanford, editor of the paper, which has an average circulation of about 4,200. “They snookered us.”

As a temporary measure, Monnett had been driving to a movie theater in Yuma, 90 miles away, to review the same films showing at the Blythe theater. Meanwhile, Monnett, who contends that her right to freedom of expression has been violated, considered taking legal action against the theater owners.

“I feel cheated now because they basically got around a confrontation,” Monnett said. “The way it worked out, it won’t do us any good even if we take them to court.”

Monnett believes she won a partial victory on Feb. 3, however, when she was visited in Blythe by a crew from the syndicated television tabloid series “Inside Edition.” With the television crew close behind, Monnett purchased a ticket and entered the theater.

But Davis said, “We just ignored the issue that night because the press was trying to engineer a confrontation. . . . She is still welcome as a person, but not as a reviewer.”

Glen Sparlin, publisher of the Palo Verde Valley Times, said there are no immediate plans to hire a new movie critic. Instead, Sparlin said, the newspaper is considering an option to contract with a syndicated movie reviewer.

“We all wish this would have ended in a solid victory,” Monnett said. “I guess this small-minded attitude is going to continue in this town.”