The Movie Critic

Into the video archives with Quentin Tarantino

Most directors don’t voluntarily retire. If you’re lucky enough to make movies at a studio level for decades, you’re not going to stop unless you can’t remember the name of the president or what year it is. Plastic enhancements may have extended the shelf life of actors and musicians, but directors can keep working until they’re on oxygen (John Huston), half-blind (John Ford), blind (Akira Kurosawa) or cancer ridden, manic, and defecating in buckets (Michael Curtiz). For over a decade, Quentin Tarantino has said that he’ll retire after ten movies — or when he hits sixty, the age he insists all filmmakers begin their steep decline.

Tarantino

Is Quentin Tarantino finished as a filmmaker?

Throughout his career, director Quentin Tarantino has been admirably consistent about his ambition to make ten films — no more, no less — and then move on to other fields. He once stated, “I like that I will leave a ten-film filmography… it’s not etched in stone, but that is the plan. If I get to the tenth, do a good job and don’t screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career.” He was savvy enough to include a caveat: “if, later on, I come across a good movie, I won’t not do it just because I said I wouldn’t.” He concluded, “But ten and done, leaving them wanting more — that sounds right.