Quentin Tarantino shares what directors should learn from legendary George Sherman

Quentin Tarantino brought a whole lot of cinematic love — and a few mic drops — to the Cannes Film Festival this week, as the guest of honor for the Cannes Classics section. True to form, the legendary filmmaker didn’t hold back while celebrating his latest obsession, George Sherman, the unsung hero of low-budget Westerns.

Taking the stage at the packed Salle Buñuel theater, Tarantino beamed with gratitude. 

“Well, I want to thank the Cannes Film Festival for setting up a double feature of George Sherman westerns and having a sold-out audience, pretty much standing room only,” he said. 

“This does my heart very, very good.”

Tarantino handpicked Sherman’s Red Canyon (1949) and Comanche Territory (1950) for the screening, and he came ready with film geek knowledge and wisdom. 

After Red Canyon rolled, the Pulp Fiction director dove into a passionate breakdown of Sherman’s directorial expertise — particularly how fast he worked. But, Tarantino noted, speed is only impressive if it produces something worth watching.

“They didn’t know how quick he was able to run his sets,” he said of Sherman’s early days at Universal Pictures. 

“Being fast is nice and being fast is great — especially for the boys in the front office — but how good is the footage?”

Then came the answer, straight from the man himself. 

“Well, you can see right there how good the footage is. The fact that this guy can work faster than every other director under contract, and his footage is that good and he has that much of a story sense and actors like him that much.” 

“Even Shelley Winters didn’t give him a hard time,” he added.

Tarantino, never one to miss an opportunity to mentor the next generation, had some real talk for aspiring filmmakers in the crowd. 

“He didn’t have any more time than any of those other fucking directors,” he said.

“But it’s what he did with that time that made it matter, and that’s what I want to pass on to you young filmmakers here: You are only going to have so much time in the course of the day when you’re making a movie.”

He didn’t stop there, either. 

“Look: we all want to shoot what we want. We all want to get the best that we want to get. But it almost doesn’t count unless you do it inside the circle that you’re supposed to be working in. And how you spend that time; how you use that time, that will define you.”

As if all that weren’t enough of a show, Tarantino also popped up during the festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night with a surprise of his own. 

“It’s my honor to declare the 78th festival open!” he shouted — and then, in true Tarantino flair, dropped the mic.