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Don't be so sure on that theory. When 1.85 feature films are reduced to 16mm prints, often times they are "adapted scope," so that the movie is presented without dead space top and bottom, as it would be were it transferred from an unmatted 1.33 image. Sometimes, the filmmaker shoots 1.85 in a "hard matte" anyhow (such as ALIENS), and there is no dead space to open up, so rather than push into the image and increase the grain, the reduction will be converted to scope.
Here's an example: Michael Ritchie's comedy AN ALMOST PERFECT AFFAIR was released on VHS by Paramount in a squeezed transfer, leading me to think it was shot 2.35. But the DVD is presented at 1.85. I did a test, running both the tape and DVD in sync, and there was no missing picture information in either copy: Paramount had used a 16mm adapted scope source for the old tape transfer.
Thus, I suspect that SORCERER may have some of the same inherent transfer quirks. Viewing the film on laserdisc (which is likely the exact same transfer for the DVD), I noticed a slight amount of pan-scanning, but not enough to denote a scope release. IIRC, Friedkin abstained from scope most of his career for the same reasons Scorsese did, fearing how bad the transfer would look on video, and only with the advent of Super 35 technology did they begin to shoot wider films. (So far, Friedkin made only RULES OF ENGAGEMENT in scope)
\"As I looked back over my life, I realized that I enjoyed nothing--not art, not sex--more than going to the movies.\" -- Gore Vidal
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