It’s kind of hard to define a “theatrical cut” of this film though, since there was more than one cut, wasn’t there?
What I really want is a director’s cut…but I’m not sure if that will ever happen =(
Just to clarify, the version I had on tape (not sure if it was HBO, may have been Showtime) included the scene of the tilt-a-whirl part rolling down the hill, and also the dream scene near the end where the Thunder Road shows up in Ben’s classroom. It did not have the scene of Ben and Wolfgang walking to school.
The one you refer to is the master that Paramount used for the US home video versions (LD, Beta, VHS etc) and is the standard version on DVD. The 80s UK home video release is the same as the theatrical cut, with the scene of Wolfgang and Ben towards the beginning. I recorded this version in HD (1080) from Channel 4 during Xmas 2015. The closing credits featuring Robert Picado’s stand up routine have been time-compressed and cut down.
It appears that the footage has been lost and even a director’s cut wouldn’t have been enough because the film was unfinished - and not in the George Lucas sense of “forever unfinished in my mind.” There’s been talk of a reboot… Dante wasn’t even invited to participate with the DVD release and claims the Paramount execs said he was lucky they were even going to make it available on a modern format. Explains why there’s been no Blu-Ray.