Cabaret
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The vicissitudes of life for a cabaret performer in Berlin in the early 1930s.

There is a spoiler at the end, if you haven't seen this already wait til you have to read the review.

I have really mixed feelings about this movie:

I LIKE: I DON'T LIKE:
  • The songs, many of which are earworms (they stick in your head for a long time)
  • The very young Michael York. Rowf!
  • Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies. Rarely have I seen him in a role he is more perfect for.
  • The choreography, which screams out Bob Fosse.
  • The slowly growing creepiness as the Nazis become more powerful
  • The best scene in the movie, imho, when they're at the cafe and the beautiful young man in the Nazi uniform starts singing the lovely song and everyone starts standing up and joining in, and Our Heroes (and the viewers) realize that this is the turning point, the Nazis are now a Power rather than a bunch of wierd radicals. Beautifully done.
  • The whole decadence thing, which was more more shocking in the 70s than it is now. (Remember, this movie preceded The Rocky Horror Picture Show by three years...and even that's pretty tame nowadays.)
  • Liza Minnelli.

  • Liza Minnelli.

  • Liza Minnelli.

  • Liza Minnelli.

  • Liza Minnelli.

  • Liza Minnelli.

  • Okay, I'll stop. But dang, she just puts my back up. That whole vibrato thing, and the neediness and the gestures that all say, look at me, I'm really wonderful, don't you think so? Huh? Tell me you think so...don't you? huh? It just makes me nuts.

So basically I think this is a really good movie except for...you know who. The thing is, as it was rewritten from the stage play (which was much more about all the people at the boarding house and less about the cabaret itself) Minnelli really is perfect for the part. The looks, the voice, the combination of wry and tough, and needy and scared...she really is the right person for it the way it was written.

Interestingly, I saw this movie 25 or 30 years ago on television, and in my memory was a scene that completely didn't happen in the movie: rather than them confessing to each other what had happened with Max, I remembered that she actually walked in on them. Funny how memory works.

But see it if you haven't, it's worth it for the musical numbers and Michael York alone. Then take the big brush and try to scrub some of the Minnelliness out of your brain, and you'll probably avoid the worst effects of having these extremely sticky songs running around your head for months and months and months...Aaaagh! No! here they come again!!! Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...