Jean-Paul Belmondo Movies
Once a key face of the French New Wave and one of the most famous actors in French film, Jean-Paul Belmondo strayed from his art cinema roots and morphed into a prolific, bankable action comedy star from the mid-'60s on.The son of a sculptor, Belmondo spent his high school years as more of an athlete than an artist, but he decided that acting was his calling by the time he reached his twenties. After studying drama at the Paris Conservatory, Belmondo began his professional career on stage and spent the first half of the 1950s doing theater. Making his film debut in 1957, Belmondo appeared in several films in the last years of the decade, including Les Copains du Dimanche (1957) and his first co-starring role with fellow French idol Alain Delon in Sois Belle et Tais-Toi (1957).
Belmondo broke through as an international star, however, in Jean-Luc Godard's landmark first film, revisionist noir Breathless (1959). With his inimitable, roguish smile, unique looks, and witty yet moody performance as doomed thief/Humphrey Bogart fan Michel Poiccard, Belmondo perfectly embodied the cool youthful rebellion guiding Godard's trailblazing cinematic style, rendering Belmondo the Gallic James Dean and heir apparent to Michel Simon and Jean Gabin. Belmondo further displayed his range in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women (1960) opposite Oscar-winner Sophia Loren and as the titular priest in Jean-Pierre Melville's dark World War II drama Leon Morin, Prêtre (1961). After reteaming with Godard for the musical comedy A Woman Is a Woman (1961), Belmondo worked again with Melville in one of the director's signature gangster noir homages, playing the apparently double-crossing con Silien in Le Doulos (1962). Belmondo reached another artistic peak when he collaborated with Godard for the third time in the creatively complex romance-musical-gangster-road movie Pierrot le Fou (1965), but by then his career had already begun to move in another direction.
Though Belmondo's gallery of early-'60s charismatic losers like Silien and Poiccard made him synonymous with the new French cinema's edginess, he also established himself as a potentially more commercial star in such films as the period swashbuckler Cartouche (1962) and the romantic comedy La Chasse a L'Homme (1964). After his starring turn in Philippe De Broca's action comedy L'Homme de Rio (1964), Belmondo mostly focussed his energies on similar work, often produced by his own company, Cerito. Returning to his athletic roots, Belmondo became renowned for doing his own stunts as well as for his charming screen presence in such movies as the hit Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine (1965), the comic caper The Brain (1968), and his second film with Delon, Borsalino (1970). Along with the action and comedy vehicles in the late '60s and early '70s, Belmondo appeared in René Clement's all-star World War II epic Is Paris Burning? (1966), the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967), and Claude Lelouch's romance Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). Belmondo also continued his association with the remnants of the New Wave, starring in François Truffaut's l'amour fou drama Mississippi Mermaid (1969) opposite Catherine Deneuve, Louis Malle's crime comedy Le Voleur (1967), and Claude Chabrol's black comedy Docteur Popaul (1972).
As the 1970s and 1980s went on, Belmondo churned out more and more genre entertainment, including De Broca's James Bond parody Le Magnifique (1973), and crime thrillers Peur Sur la Ville (1975) and L'Alpagueur (1976). In 1978, Belmondo began a profitable association with director Georges Lautner in the hit comedy thriller Flic ou Voyou, continuing through Le Guignolo (1979), Le Professionnel (1981), the comedy Joyeuses Paques! (1984), and the mystery L'Inconnu dans la Maison (1992). In 1987, Belmondo returned to the stage for the first time since 1959 and divided his efforts between theater and film from then on. Though he continued his genre work in the 1990s with the romantic comedy Désiré (1996) and his third co-starring turn with Delon in Patrice Leconte's action comedy 1 Chance Sur 2 (1998), Belmondo also branched out creatively as part of the ensemble in Agnès Varda's homage to international cinema Les Cent et une Nuits de Simon Cinema (1995) and as the Jean Valjean figure in Claude Lelouch's 20th century reworking of Les Miserables (1995).
Well-regarded in the French film world as well as by movie audiences throughout his career, Belmondo was elected president of the French actors' union in 1963, and he was awarded the César for his performance in Lelouch's romance Itinéraire d'un Enfant Gaté (1988). He also published his autobiography 30 Years and 25 Films in 1963. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Murder, industrial espionage, political intrigue and Jean-Paul Belmondo are the strengths of this French thriller. Cordell (Belmondo) is the heir of a French industrialist, who dies in an air crash. When someone almost succeeds in framing Cordell with a case of drugs, he begins to suspect that his father's death was not accidental. He hires a private detective and finds that a reporter working for his father's magazine (one of the many companies he owned) was looking into plans by another multinational to take over the company. Also, Cordell's father-in-law, a former Italian fascist, may not have given up his old loyalties. As these facts emerge, his enemies become even more determined to get him out of the way. This film caused some controversy in France where it was viewed as a sharp commentary on the society by the director, a former journalist. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Carla Gravina, (more)
In this parody of James Bond movies, a dullard of a spy novelist finds himself the subject of an English sociology student's term papers. She travels to his Paris apartment to do her research and their relationship is interspliced with episodes from the writer's newest book that features his popular hero Bob St. Clair, master spy and anithesis to the writer, and his lovely assistant Tatiana, (who is of course, the lookalike of the lovely student). The spy's nemesis is in reality, his pushy publisher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
- 1972
Docteur Popaul, or Scoundrel in White is a black comedy by Claude Chabrol. It tells of the life and proper comeuppance of Dr. Paul Simay (Jean Paul Belmondo), an unusual sort of ladies' man. At his hospital, there is a bet to see who can seduce the most ugly women. Paul is confident he can win, because he already woos ugly women exclusively. He says he gets much better results from them. When he woos and finally marries Christine (Mia Farrow), buck-teeth, leg-braces and all, he eventually discovers that he has more than met his match. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Mia Farrow, (more)
- 1972
In 1934, Roberto Borgo (Jean-Paul Belmondo) leaves Sicily for Marseille, where his childhood friend Xavier (Michel Constantin) has just been condemned to 20 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Indeed, local gang leader, Villanova, has framed Xavier. Roberto confronts the mobster and kills him. Later, while helping Xavier's sister (Claudia Cardinale) to fight an American gang of racketeers, Roberto is caught by the police and is put in the same prison with Xavier. Then the two volunteer to clear land mines left from the last war, hoping to receive a pardon. The same story was previously filmed as Un nommé La Rocca also starring Belmondo. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Claudia Cardinale, (more)
- 1971
This film is a French period comic romance, set in the time just surrounding the French Revolution (1789). "Year Two," of the French title refers to the second year following the revolution. Those who guided the French Revolution renamed the days of the week, the months of the year, and much more. They also began their calendar from the time of the revolution. In this film, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the husband of a vivacious, two-timing, and socially ambitious young woman (Marlene Jobert). After he kills one of her aristocratic lovers, the husband flees to the New World (the Americas). He returns to France after the revolution, finds that he has been divorced, and then works hard to woo his ex-wife away from all the important men and outlaw aristocrats she is spending time with. Happiness reigns anew as, remarried, they both attain aristocratic status in Napolean's regime. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Marlène Jobert, (more)
- 1971
- PG
This French-made feature was based on a 1957 Hollywood "B" effort The Burglar. Both films were inspired by the same David Goodis novel. Gallic crime-flick icon Jean Paul Belmondo play a slick jewel thief who steals a valuable emerald. He is stalked by cop Omar Sharif, who when he catches up to Belmondo reveals himself to be a fellow crook, interested only in a piece of the action. Diane Cannon plays the "gun moll" role created by Jayne Mansfield in the 1957 film. Burglars ends with a set-to in a Greek grain elevator, where Sharif is smothered in a cascade of wheat--a climax later borrowed for the American crime thriller Witness (82). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Omar Sharif, (more)
- 1970
- R
Based on a Eugene Saccomano novel entitled The Bandits of Marseilles, this movie was followed by a sequel entitled Borsalino and Co. This movie captures the mood of 1930 Marseilles beautifully with the use of ambience and music. Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo portray two gangsters who kill their way to the top. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, (more)
- 1969
The Brain (Le Cerveau) is a tongue-in-cheek caper film with more twists and turns than a rural Oregon highway. David Niven plays The Brain, so named because it was he who mapped out the British Great Train Robbery (it says here). Now The Brain plans to lift a fortune in NATO money, which is being shipped by train from France to Belgium. Complicating matters are a pair of free-lance thugs (Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil), who hope to steal The Brain's plans and claim the money for themselves. A plot device derived from The Lavender Hill Mob involves a 50-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty. An amusing closing-credits bit caps this exhilarating exercise. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, David Niven, (more)
A rare mid-career flop for director François Truffaut when it was released, Mississippi Mermaid has become a cult favorite, thanks in part to the availability of the original French version, which added 13 minutes to the U.S. release running time. Adapted from a story by William Irish, it's a noirish tale of a man who orders a mail-order bride but receives instead a con woman. Louis Mahe (Jean-Paul Belmondo) owns a tobacco factory on the remote Indian Ocean island of Reunion. His bride, Julie Roussel (Catherine Deneuve), looks nothing like the photo she sent him, but she explains that she had forwarded a picture of a friend instead. After Louis allows Julie access to both his personal and company bank accounts, she disappears with most of his fortune. Heartbroken and bitter, he takes a holiday in the south of France and improbably spots "Julie" on a TV news story. When he tracks her down, she reveals her real name, Marion, and how she and her con-man boyfriend, Richard, had intercepted the real Julie on the boat Mississippi that was headed for Reunion. Richard threw Julie off the ship and Marion assumed her identity, but once the two thieves returned to France, Richard made off with the money. Marion professes that she fell in love with Louis, and he believes her. They try to make a life together in France, but a private detective whom Louis and Julie's sister, Berthe, had hired to find Marion, tracks them down to a house they have rented in Aix en Provence, forcing them to go on the run. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, (more)
- 1969
- PG
In this romance, a composer and a French film star, both of whom are married to others, meet and fall in love while shooting a film in the United States. The two illicit lovers begin touring the country together and enjoying the sights with particular emphasis on Monument Valley and Las Vegas. The actress begins to feel guilty and confesses all to her husband on the phone. She and the composer then decide to end the affair. Later they reunite and decide that they will rendezvous in Nice. She goes there, but her lover never arrives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Annie Girardot, (more)
- 1969
This film documentary of Paris combines the earliest known photography with modern color. Famous personalities that have lived and worked in the city of lights will be more familiar to Parisian viewers. Jean-Paul Belmondo narrates the feature throughout. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo
- 1968
Ho (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a racecar driver who is sponsored by a colorful gangster. When his friend is involved in an accident that leads to his death, Ho leaves the world of auto racing behind. He joins the mob and becomes a getaway driver for thugs who pull off bank robberies. When the mob boss dies, Ho muscles in and tries to take over the gang. Kidnapping a journalist to cover the story firsthand, he has an affair with a famous model. The police are soon on the trail of the aspiring crime boss as a shootout leaves the beautiful model dead. Ho sees the end of his criminal dreams coming to an end as the authorities and newspaper photographers converge to chronicle his capture. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Joanna Shimkus, (more)
Retired after years of international espionage, Agent 007 is lured back into action to battle the evil spy organization SMERSH in this notoriously incoherent parody of the James Bond films. David Niven portrays the aging Bond, who atypically rejects the advances of a variety of women, and agrees to battle SMERSH's hold on the lavish Casino Royale only after organization head M is murdered. Also mixed up in the affair are several other secret agents, all named James Bond, played by everyone from Peter Sellers and Woody Allen to a chimpanzee. Despite a star-studded cast, a large production budget, and a hit score by Burt Bacharach, the film was universally panned as a muddled, overlong failure, with the occasional amusing sequence lost in the unintelligible surroundings. The participation of several screenwriters and five different directors, including John Huston, only adds to the confusion. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1967
Louis Malle directed this light comedy about crime and class in the City of Light. Georges Randal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a young man living in Paris at the turn of the century who is due to inherit a considerable fortune. However, his uncle, who is acting as his guardian, manages to spend Georges' money before he ever gets a chance to see it. Georges is also deeply in love with Charlotte (Geneviève Bujold), his cousin, and wants to marry her; however, the same uncle has promised her hand to another, a man Charlotte does not love. Understandably angry, Georges makes plans to steal the family's jewelry, intended for Charlotte, away from his dishonest uncle. Georges soon discovers that he enjoys being a thief, and begins robbing the wealthy as protest against the bourgeoisie. However, as Georges' ill-gotten nest egg grows, he finds himself becoming a member of the idle rich he professes to despise. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Geneviève Bujold, (more)
- 1966
Jean-Paul Belmondo is a lovable lothario who delights in his womanizing ways in this ribald comedy adventure. When two women can't get enough of him, he is chased to Tahiti and back to Paris by admiring females. His experiences are exhausting to the point that he considers giving up his life as a ladies man. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Nadja Tiller, (more)
In 1944, with Paris on the verge of Liberation by the allies, Adolph Hitler ordered that the City of Light be blown up and burned to the ground. General Dietrich Von Choltitz, after much rumination, decided that he didn't want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris. His refusal to follow Hitler's orders would make him a pariah in Germany for the rest of his life; nor was his gesture ever rewarded by the Allies. From this very human story in the midst of one of the most inhuman conflicts in history grew the screenplay (by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola) of the all-star, internationally produced Is Paris Burning? Whereas the earlier The Longest Day was able to support a castful of celebrities and brief subplot vignettes, Is Paris Burning? seems more weighted down than weighty. Still, a modern audience will have fun playing "spot the star" throughout the film, especially when those spotted stars include the likes of Gert Frobe (as Choltitz), Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Kirk Douglas (as Patton), Glenn Ford (as Bradley), Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Robert Stack, and even Anthony Perkins as a wide-eyed GI. Filmed on a gargantuan scale, Is Paris Burning? was based on a book by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. The film was lensed in black and white, save for the Technicolor finale (in the original road-show prints). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Boyer, (more)
Pierrot le fou (1965) is Jean-Luc Godard's sixth film staring Anna Karina, his first wife. It is the story of Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Marianne (Karina). They meet when Ferdinand's wife hires Marianne as a baby-sitter. As he drives Marianne home, Ferdinand decides to run away with her. The couple get caught up in a mysterious gun-running scheme involving Marianne's brother (Dirk Sanders). With Pierrot le fou Godard returns to the story of A bout de souffle (Breathless): the tale of a couple on the run. But in the six years between the two films Godard developed a more complex and often difficult style. Pierrot le fou incorporates musical numbers, references to the history of cinema and painting, and quotations from literature. The film features Godard's most extended use of color to that point, as the shots are filled with blocks of bright primary colors. Pierrot le fou is a catalogue of cinematic inventions and of gestures made by couples in love. ~ Louis Schwartz, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina, (more)
- 1965
Arthur Lempereur (Jean-Paul Belmondo of Breathless) is a globe-hopping millionaire, engaged to Alice (Valérie Lagrange), a beautiful young woman. As the film opens, Arthur has cut the break line on his fine automobile and proceeds to drive it off a cliff. This, we learn, is his ninth suicide attempt in the past week. Arthur is bored with his easy life. Even learning from his accountant, Biscotton (Darry Cowl), that he's ruined doesn't perk him up. On a cruise to Hong Kong, his friend Mr. Goh (Valéry Inkijinoff) comes up with a solution to Arthur's woes: "Adversity carries the chance for happiness," he explains to the despondent young man. Goh convinces Arthur to take out a two-million-dollar life insurance policy, with Goh and Alice as the beneficiaries. The policy will expire in one month. Goh then tells Arthur that his life is in danger. He may be killed at any moment. Arthur soon realizes that he's being followed. He's not so eager to be murdered. Arthur and his valet, Leon (Jean Rochefort of The Hairdresser's Husband), frantically search for Goh to ask him to call off the hit. At one point, Arthur ducks into a nightclub to dodge his pursuers, and instantly falls for Alexandrine (Ursula Andress), the stripper on-stage. Alexandrine is fascinated by the ways men try to manipulate women and assumes that Arthur's story about hired killers is a bizarre ruse. All the more determined to survive the month, the bumbling Arthur engages in a fierce battle for his life. Up to His Ears is both a loose adaptation of a Jules Verne story (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) and a hyped-up return to the form of director Philippe de Broca's previous action comedy, That Man from Rio, which also starred Belmondo. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Ursula Andress, (more)
- 1965
Francis (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a hard-boiled hood who is talked into pulling off a job for the aging racketeer Frank (Akim Tamiroff) in this routine gangster drama. With the help of the sister of a kidnapped heiress, they try and track down the missing woman. The duo break into a house occupied by an artist and his family, and the artist is sent to contact his father while the rest of the family are held as hostages. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sophie Daumier, (more)
- 1964
An eight-day pass, a kidnapping, and a greedy group of South American Indians provide the basic ingredients of this madcap adventure. A French air force pilot has the pass and plans to use it to see his girl friend in Paris. He gets there just in time to see a gang of South American Indians, who believe the girl knows the location of a set of statues that can pinpoint the location of a fabulous jungle treasure, kidnapping her. He follows them to the Brazilian jungle and many riotous adventures ensue. Eventually the lovers manage to escape and return to France just before the pilot's pass expires. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Françoise Dorléac, (more)
- 1964
In this French comedy from director Edouard Molinaro, a young Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as Fernand, a groom-to-be who is dissuaded from stepping up to the altar by his two friends after they terrify him with their personal marriage horror stories. Antoine immediately ditches his bride and heads for Greece, but not before giving his friend Antoine (Jean-Claude Brialy) his honeymoon cruise tickets. Aboard the boat, Antoine meets and falls in love. Meanwhile, Fernand falls in love with a swindler and becomes determined to marry her. Also featuring a 21-year-old Catherine Deneuve, La Chasse A L'Homme was released in the United States in 1965 under the title Male Hunt. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy, (more)
- 1964
In this WW II drama set during a weekend in June of 1940, German invaders force British troops to flee Dunkirk. The French soldiers stationed on a nearby beach also want to withdraw so they too can battle the Germans, but they have been ordered to stay in place and the British are to use the boats first. Though it is a bloody conflict and many innocent residents are killed, one young woman, Jeanne (Catherine Spaak) refuses to evacuate her home. She becomes friends with one of the French soldiers, Julien (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who later saves her from being raped. The situation on the beach grows increasingly tense as the waiting soldiers are easy targets for German warplanes. Julien tries to persuade Jeanne to leave this dangerous place. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Spaak, (more)
- 1964
A greedy gold smuggler hires a handsome hero to transport a stolen fortune to a new hideout in this thrilling adventure. The smuggler sends his moll to accompany (and spy on) the hero. The two set out for Beirut to get instructions as to where the gold is located. They travel throughout exotic southeastern Europe and the Middle East seeking further instructions, never realizing that they have had it all along. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, (more)
- 1963
A pretty woman approaching middle age rents out rooms to borders in a small Italian town. Margherita (Gina Lollobrigida) rents to an aging sailor, who reflects on his pleasurable life experiences, and a handsome younger man (Jean Paul Belmondo). The film seems to have been rushed to be entered at the Venice Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Paul Belmondo
In this lightweight French comedy a pair of sharpers, Cathy (Jeanne Moreau) and her ex-husband Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) attempt to bilk a miserly millionaire out of his fortune during his visit to the French Riviera. Unfortunately for them, he is just as crafty as they are. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Paul Belmondo, (more)
