Last night, a movie changed my life. Actually it only feels like last night, because I recall it with such blinding clarity. It was 1979, when — after seeing Bob Fosse's semiautobiographical film "All That Jazz" — I experienced an epiphany.

Not a this-is-a-great-movie epiphany, like the one that hits you after seeing "The Godfather Part II" or "Lawrence of Arabia," although I can make a very long argument that "All That Jazz" is a landmark film, a musical that defied every convention of what a musical was supposed to be.

No, for me "All That Jazz" was an intensely personal experience, one that resonated with me in a way that great movies could not. And trimming my big bushy late '70s beard into a goatee like the one Roy Scheider wore (and Fosse himself) an hour after I saw the movie was just the start.

But enough about follicle folly. "All That Jazz" finally has received a DVD upgrade, designated a "Special Music Edition" (Fox), apparently because it allows the viewer to access the brilliant production numbers without enduring the story that, to my endless amazement, some people still consider a depressing downer.

It has the work-, sex-, booze-, pill- and ego-driven Fosse stand-in, played by Scheider and named Joe Gideon, on a physical and emotional tear. He's attempting to finish a drama with a difficult leading man while casting, choreographing and looking for financing for a sexy new musical. He's trying to balance relationships with his girlfriend (Ann Reinking), his daughter (Erzsebet Foldi) and his estranged wife (Audrey Paris).

Joe also is flirting with the Angel of Death (Jessica Lange), the only character who refuses to be put off. Among the many innovations of "All That Jazz" is an on-screen depiction of open-heart surgery.

Ably representing the show-must-go-on ethic is Ben Vereen as a Sammy Davis Jr.-like entertainer who hosts the superbly staged hallucinations Joe experiences during surgery.

How all this relates to real-life Fosse — who would die of a heart attack at 60 — is described in a commentary track by editor Alan Heim and a featurette titled "Portrait of a Choreographer."

What makes this "Special Music Edition" special is the 2.0 stereo upgrade that makes the sound design sparkle like a star, without an obligatory 5.1 Surround remix. If you have never seen "All That Jazz," I will wager it alters the way you perceive musical drama. The musical, once viewed as the ultimate perversion of real life, has never been more real.

ALSO NEW

"Copying Beethoven" (MGM) stars Ed Harris as the great man, and Diane Krueger, who transcribes his Ninth Symphony.

"Bedazzled," one of the great comedies of the '70s, is a bawdy contemporary Faustian tale. It stars Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Fox).

The same studio is responsible for "The Royal Flash," director Richard Lester's distillation of a couple of George McDonald's "Flashman" novels, taking the cowardly English schoolboy (Malcolm McDowell) from boyhood to the Prussian wars.

And the fake documentary "Death of a President" (Lionsgate), in which George W. Bush is assassinated, is a thriller that asks interesting questions.

TV ON DVD

Finally! "Twin Peaks — The Second Season" (Paramount) makes it to disc five years after the first season of David Lynch's original and often baffling supernatural murder mystery-soap opera arrived.

"Entourage — Season 3, Part 1" (HBO) contains last year's first 12 shows of the comedy about young Hollywood.

"Law & Order — The Fifth Year" (Universal) covers the 1994-95 season, when the late Jerry Orbach and Chris Noth were still partners and Jill Hennessy was the assistant D.A.

FAMILY FILM OF THE WEEK

Why "Charlotte's Web" (Paramount) was not the "Babe"-sized family hit it deserved to be when it was in theaters last year is beyond me, but this fine and true adaptation of the E.B. White classic is thoroughly entertaining for kids and parents alike.

Dakota Fanning is her completely believable self as the farm girl who convinces her father not to kill a beloved pig, and then gets caught up in her life while he struggles to make a new home with barn full of strangers and is befriended only by a spider (the voice of Julia Roberts) with a remarkable talent.

John Cleese, Andre Benjamin, Oprah Winfrey and Cedric the Entertainer are among those giving voice to the animals, and the DVD is jammed with extras, including one on how the animatronic sequences blended with "performances" by real animals.