Pan and Scan refused to die in the U.S. thanks to consumer confusion/ignorance/indifference, and the studios' lack of any real effort to educate people about those black bars. There were some widescreen VHS tapes in the 90's as well, but if you were really into seeing movies the best way possible, you bought an LD player.
When DVD first hit the market, one of the features touted was the ability to pan and scan a widescreen movie on the fly. I've never encountered a disc that actually offered this though.
It was probably sales of widscreen tv's taking off that finally nailed the coffin shut.
Although now there are digital tv sub channels like "This TV" that are broadcast 4:3, and show a lot of movies, so Pan and Scan will never totally be gone either.
Thanks for posting all the comparisons, russs15. I was doing a lot of that figuring out the lineage of the "HBO" version. I tend to prefer the pan and scan that favors Chewie. ;)
It's interesting that there wasn't a fullscreen version of the GOUT on DVD.