I don't usually like musicals. I hated An American in Paris. Other than Gigi and The Wizard of Oz, I can't think of a musical that I would want to buy. I watched this movie because it was nominated for Best Picture (it lost to The Godfather). I wondered why it had won eight Academy Awards, figuring that it was another crappy musical that won for some reason. So, you could say I was anticipating disliking the film.

The story revolves around a decadent cabaret in 1930s Germany. Sally Bowles (Liza Minelli) is an American singer who lives her life at full speed, fueled by drink and drugs and one-night stands. The androgynous and slightly sinister Master of Ceremonies (Joel Gray) introduces her as "world famous," and she wants to be, so bad that she makes up stories to regale others with, hoping to impress them and get a shot at being a real actress. If her stories won't work, her body will do in a pinch. She meets Brian (Michael York), a stodgy English man who teaches English at her boarding house. She tries to seduce him, because that's what she does. At first he rejects her, but they gradually grow together. I like the way the film shows the inevitability of the two radically different people finding things to like in each other. They need each other. Sally needs Brian's down-to-earth nature, and Brian needs Sally's wild abandon.

But all is not well in the world. Anti-Semitism is on the rise, and the film shows us flashes of brutality amidst the carefree lives of the main characters, coloring their romance with ominous overtones. In one particularly frightening scene, Bob Fosse cuts between a wild dance number at the cabaret and a group of Nazis beating an old man to death.

Meanwhile, Sally becomes infatuated with Maximilian (Helmut Griem), a rich baron who seduces her with everything she wants—money, furs, trips, and expensive drinks. Brian is forced to go along for the ride, hoping to keep Sally from forgetting about him. She doesn't, but she sleeps with the pompous bastard anyway, and Brian exacts a poetic revenge against the two of them without having to give Sally up.

About a half hour into it, I realized that I had become wrapped up in the romance of the reckless Sally and the staid Brian. I shared Brian's apprehension at both the inexorable rise of Nazism and Sally's apparent refusal to take anything, including her own life, seriously. I wanted to punch Maximilian, but understood why Brian wouldn't.

It's filled with brilliant scenes. The one I mentioned above was the first one that grabbed me and told me I was watching something special. One of the most frightening scenes I can remember occurs near the middle of the film, serving as the dividing point between the happy first half and the ever-worsening situation in the last half. The scene occurs while Brian, Sally, and Maximilian are driving to Helmut's mansion. The trio stops at an outdoor restaurant for lunch, and their peaceful repast is interrupted by an angelic young boy singing a song called "Tomorrow Belongs to Me." The camera slowly reveals more of him, until you realize that he's dressed in a Nazi uniform. Soon, everyone present is singing along, and Brian turns to Maximilian on their way out, asking, "Do you still think you can control them?" We knew how wrong Maximilian was earlier in the film when he said that they, meaning the German people, could control the growing Nazi party. When the German people started singing along with the boy, we were given a hint at how terribly wrong he really was.