I'm not sure. King's foreword made the rewrites seem pretty minor - stuff like the name of a town turning into the name of a person, based on him getting a better idea later - but he might also not be the best judge. It felt mythic but the characters didn't feel 3-D; however, that could just be a difference in interpretation rather than text.

I love those 70s Pacino/DeNiro movies and have seen most of them, even the terrible ones, so you are making that and the sequels sound very potentially appealing even if you do just like book one more than I did.