Tarantino: Retire before "an old-man filmmaker"

In an interview with Playboy (good luck explaining that page hit to your IT monitor), Quentin Tarantino said he wanted to retire before he became "an old-man filmmaker." The same could be said for the music world where many artists overstay their welcome. However, there are always exceptions to the rule (see Bob Dylan or the fact that Clint Eastwood's great second act directorial streak began when he filmed Unforgiven at the age of 62).

Aisha Harris, Katie Kilkenny, and David Haglund of Slate chose to put Tarantino's theory to the test by examining the works of such celebrated directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman and Akira Kurosawa. Each director on the list had at least two late period films that wouldn't be considered to be their finest work by any means. However, almost all had at least one late-career film that ranks high in the director's accomplishments. For example, see Kurosawa's Ran, Hitchcock's Frenzy and Altman's Gosford Park.

So, does Tarantino have a point? If not, what are some late-era works in an artist's catalog that you'd rank up with their early high water achievements?