I've never used a film retreiver, I just used a church-key type bottle opener to pop the top off. I later got a tool that was specifically for removing the end (right about the time that I mostly stopped shooting 35mm...ugh). I understand from other posts that you recently became one-handed, correct? (sorry for being indelicate) If thats the case, that approach probably wouldn't work for you since you need to hold the canister in one hand and the opener in another. Many years ago when I used a university darkroom, they had an opener attached to the wall. With the opener fixed in place, that could be used easily to remove an end of canister one-handed, if you could find them for sale.
OTOH, I really do appreciate auto cameras that stop before pulling the film fully in, which is one of the many reasons why I love my Pentax MZ-S.