I just watched this at a theater. It's beautiful film and the restoration appears to be really well-done. Excellent sound, and the colors, visuals, and set design are really engaging, particularly all the neon signage it features. The 1.37:1 ratio is really strange at first and I thought maybe it was just for an intro sequence like an in-film TV or theater piece, but apparently the entire film is shot in that ratio. I completely forgot about it after a couple of minutes, so it doesn't have much impact on the overall look (at least, not in a theater setting).
I'm curious about the additional six minutes of footage and also how much re-editing was done. The problem with this film (and this opinion seems to be widely shared) is the characters just aren't particularly likeable, and it's difficult to feel anything for them, so no amount of editing or additional footage is going to resolve that. I can completely understand why the film failed at the box office, especially in 1982. This movie felt like something better suited to the early-mid-1970's and must have felt like a relic already even when it was released, particularly in the wake of all the major game-changing action/adventure/sci-fi films that came out from 1977-1982. Even Harry Dean Stanton was mostly forgettable in it. That said, being a major fan of Francis Ford Coppola's work and having heard the stories about how this film bankrupted him and American Zoetrope and cast a pall over his subsequent career, I'm glad I finally watched it, esp. in a theater. It's far from a terrible film, and it's worth watching just for how interesting it is visually and for the beautiful set design. I expect I will pick up a copy of this 4K release, not least for all the extras included.
