Editing Jean-Paul Belmondo (section)

===1980s===
[[File:Jean-Paul Belmondo Cannes 2011.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Belmondo at the 2011 [[Cannes Film Festival]]]]
In 1980, Belmondo starred in another comedy, ''[[Le Guignolo]]''.<ref name=leg>{{cite web|url=https://consent.yahoo.com/v2/collectConsent?sessionId=1_cc-session_49d18e66-e8c7-4028-affd-3475ccca3e0d|title="he was my best friend": the homage of Jean-Paul Belmondo to Charles Gérard|publisher=Yahoo|access-date=7 September 2021}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was a secret service agent in ''[[The Professional (1981 film)|The Professional]]'' (1981) and a pilot in ''[[Ace of Aces (1982 film)|Ace of Aces]]'' (1982).<ref name=ace>{{cite web|url=https://www.criterionchannel.com/the-professional|title=The Professional|publisher=Criterion Channel|access-date=7 September 2021|archive-date=7 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907103030/https://www.criterionchannel.com/the-professional|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/in-the-press/20210907-french-papers-bid-adieu-to-the-ace-of-aces-actor-jean-paul-belmondo|title=French papers bid adieu to the 'Ace of Aces', actor Jean-Paul Belmondo|date=7 September 2021|publisher=France24|access-date=7 September 2021}}</ref>

"What intellectuals don't like is success", said Belmondo.<ref name="theatre"/> "Success in France is always looked down on, not by the public, but by intellectuals. If I'm nude in a film, that's fine for the intellectuals. But if I jump from a helicopter, they think it's terrible."<ref name="theatre"/>

Belmondo kept to commercial films: ''[[Le Marginal]]'' (1983) as a policeman,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fr.finance.yahoo.com/actualites/cerveau-tmc-marginal-c8-jean-134924538.html|title=The Brain (TMC) / Le Marginal (C8) – Jean-Paul Belmondo, cop and thug|date=3 May 2019 |publisher=Yahoo|access-date=7 September 2021}}</ref> ''[[Les Morfalous]]'' (1984) as a sergeant in the [[French Foreign Legion]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b747820fc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303162213/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b747820fc|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 March 2018|title=Les MORFALOUS (1984)|publisher=BFI|access-date=7 September 2021}}</ref> ''[[Hold-Up (1985 film)|Hold-Up]]'' (1985) as a bank robber,<ref name=bbcobit/> and ''[[Le Solitaire (film)|Le Solitaire]]'' (1987), again playing another policeman in the last one, the latter one was a big box office disappointment and Belmondo returned to theatre shortly afterwards.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b76e6e864|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518212133/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b76e6e864|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 May 2017|title=Le Solitaire|access-date=7 September 2021|publisher=BFI}}</ref>

In 1987, he returned to the theatre after a 26-year absence in a production of ''Kean'', adapted by [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] from the novel by [[Alexandre Dumas]].<ref name="theatre"/> "I did theatre for 10 years before going into movies and every year I planned to go back", he recalled.<ref name="theatre"/> "I returned before I became an old man."<ref name="theatre">{{Cite news|last=Riding|first=Alan|date=14 March 1990|title=Belmondo Revels in Playing Cyrano in Paris|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/14/theater/belmondo-revels-in-playing-cyrano-in-paris.html|access-date=6 September 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

For [[Claude Lelouch]], Belmondo starred in and co-produced ''[[Itinerary of a Spoiled Child]]'' (1988).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.in-24.com/lifestyle/movies/111055.html|title=Homage to Jean-Paul Belmondo: TF1 deprograms "A perfect mother" and offers the film "Itinerary of a spoiled child"|date=7 September 2021|publisher=News In 24|access-date=7 September 2021|archive-date=28 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028082613/https://news.in-24.com/lifestyle/movies/111055.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> For his performance in the film, also titled as '' Itineraire d'un Enfant Gate'', he won a [[Cesar Awards|César]].<ref name=bbcobit/>

Belmondo claimed there were "several reasons" why he made fewer films in the 1980s.<ref name="theatre"/> "I'm now a producer so it takes time to organise things", he said.<ref name="theatre"/> "But it's also difficult to find good screenplays in France. We have serious writing problems here. And I'd prefer to do theatre for a long time than take on a mediocre film."<ref name="theatre"/>