HBO is the devil

I happen to work with William Gove. He is now(and was prior to this movie) a commercial director in Western MA.
We have talked many times about this movie. From what he told me, HBO took it upon themselves to edit it their way. He has his own edit of the movie that makes this one look like crap.
It was given to me one day by him. It was on Hi8 format. I took it home and sat down to watch it. But for some reason I couldn't. I kept thinking to myself, "this is the only copy in the entire world, and if i ruin it, my life will be ruined before it starts."
So I didn't watch the it. But he told me that he understood and added that he and I will watch it some day when we're sitting around.

I have read a lot of reviews for this movie, most of them bad.
So I just thought that I would tell you this information so you didn't think so low of the director.