diff --git a/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py b/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py
index c22437ff1..07e979628 100644
--- a/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py
+++ b/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py
@@ -63,7 +63,10 @@ class RetryMiddleware(object):
     def _retry(self, request, reason, spider):
         retries = request.meta.get('retry_times', 0) + 1
 
-        retry_times = request.meta.get('max_retry_times') or self.max_retry_times
+        retry_times = self.max_retry_times
+
+        if 'max_retry_times' in request.meta:
+            retry_times = request.meta['max_retry_times']
 
         stats = spider.crawler.stats
         if retries <= retry_times: