In decades of filmmaking, only occasionally had directors gone back to "fix" or restore films that they felt had been compromised by technical or time limitations, or by studios that tampered with the filmmaker's vision. DVD has made it a regular, if not common, occurrence, and in coming weeks we will see Oliver Stone and Ridley Scott taking their third cracks at "Alexander" and "Blade Runner," respectively.

The practice has been less common in documentaries, though there have been deluxe editions of films like D.A. Pennebaker's "Don't Look Back" and "Monterey Pop," that added footage as bonus materials or reworked it into companion features.

Now, director Jerry Aronson has taken the concept a step farther with a new version of his fine 1994 doc "The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg" (New Yorker). The second disc, titled "Memorial and Interviews," essentially is a "Part 2" update of the original.

The original documentary — shown on PBS' "American Masters" series and now presented in a crisp, remastered version — was a traditional, yet personal, look at the singular life of an avant-garde poet whose work spoke to everyone. Initially, though, he was viewed as perhaps the strongest voice of writers who would be known as "The Beats." Ginsberg died in 1997.

The film employed the usual mix of newsreel footage, photographs and testimonials from contemporaries, admirers and critics — from Ken Kesey to William Burroughs to William F. Buckley. It includes a hair-raising reading of the masterful "Kaddish" and interviews with Ginsberg.

All that is now appended by a 28-minute account of his memorial service, and recently filmed interviews focusing on Ginsberg's continuing impact on poetry and culture. The filmmaker talked with modern admirers like musicians Beck and Bono, actor Johnny Depp, filmmaker Jonas Mekas and the late Hunter Thompson.

The abundance of extras includes a music video made of Ginsberg's music collaboration with Paul McCartney, called "Dance of the Skeletons," and the clip of Ginsberg and Bob Dylan visiting Jack Kerouac's grave in the daring and still officially unavailable Dylan-directed feature film "Renaldo and Clara."

ALSO NEW

Jim Jarmusch's 1984 deadpan, road-trip comedy "Stranger Than Paradise" was released on DVD before, but this pioneering indie film gets the respect it deserves in a remastered two-disc edition from the Criterion Collection. It adds commentary by the director and Jarmusch's debut, 1980's "Permanent Vacation." Getting its first North American release is the director's 1991 film, "Night on Earth" (Criterion Collection), in which dramas unfold in five taxicabs in five cities.

Cheech & Chong's stoner comedy "Up in Smoke" is out in a "High-larious Edition" (Paramount).

This year's comedy "Georgia Rule" (Universal) makes one wish Jane Fonda had stayed in retirement.

Then there's "Delta Farce" (Lionsgate), with Larry the Cable Guy.