Was this a controversial movie at the time?

You're dead right, nobody had sex in the 70s or even thought about it. You were all born by parthenogenesis.

I was a teenager when it came out. Wouldn't call it controversial, but in step with the contemporary willingness to explore previously taboo topics. Still, notice the gay relationship btn Brian & Max is all offscreen.

Don't remember Three's Company being controversial. Were you living in Arkansas at the time?

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In 1972? Cabaret controversial?

Not in the least. In a lot of ways, it was easier to get more things into movies in that period than it is today. It was about 5 years after the Production Code had finally been completely abolished in favor of the ratings system, and there was still a huge backlog of great stories that included elements that the Production Code had banned. So there was a deluge of movies that included material that would have been banned 5 or 10 years before.

Heck, this was during the period when it seemed like almost any movie that wasn't specifically aimed at kids would find a way to include a topless scene just because they finally could. Nowadays it's exactly the opposite, with the multi-national corporate parents tending to dictate that movies be toned down to PG-13 in order to maximize ticket sales. Also, since then the theaters have almost all become part of corporate chains that are more concerned about not angering Religious Right groups than they are about showing all of the best movies.

You want to know what the movie related controversies were in 1972? Whether Deep Throat should be shown in "normal" neighborhood theaters after it became a weird crossover hit from the porn world (and it was shown in such theaters; and it was a full blown "adult movie", pardon the pun); that created some controversy and protests. Whether Last Tango in Paris, a big budget film starring Marlon Brando, had gone too far by having anal sex scenes on screen (and not under sheets or anything); that created some controversy, though it didn't seem to stop it from playing in many places.

And, of course, this was the same year as Deliverance and the year after such movies as A Clockwork Orange and Carnal Knowledge. And 3 years after Midnight Cowboy, a movie about a male prostitute (who sometimes serviced males) that got an X rating and the Best Picture Oscar.

In that climate, the fact that a Tony Award winning play that had a run of over 3 years on Broadway (that's what Cabaret was) could finally have a movie version done without having a lot of the thematic guts ripped out of it by censors (like had been done to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) ....... Well, that didn't even register as a blip on the controversy radar.

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(Note: There is a *huge* difference between movies with an R rating to keep kids out and a network TV show during the "family hour" between 8:00 and 9:00 like Three's Company.)

Having lived through both the 70s and 80s I can tell you the country went backwards and became far more turgid, frumpy and intolerant in the 80s under Thatcher. Don't forget we didn't have the anti-gay materials act which was Section 28 until 1988.

I have to disagree with some of the responses here. Although I was quite young when the movie came out, I clearly remember many people discussing the film's content and at the very least, you could say that most folks found it provocative. I think what some of the responses to your question might really be getting at is that this was a period when a number of films which broke various taboos were released within a few short years. It was part of a barrage of films that shocked, challenged, and provoked audiences- in a thoughtful, artistic manner. This was mostly due to the creation of the ratings system, which permitted more violent and sexually explicit content, and more profanity. It's simply silly not to think these films were controversial, since only a few short years before, the slightest nudity or blood was rare in film, and "damn" was about as far as the profanity went. Much of the subject matter was new, unless you consider metaphors, faint allusions and the like, with regard to homosexulity for example, to be equivalent to frank depictions. There were other factors in the sudden explosion of big films that broke taboos, such as a number of previously blacklisted writers working again, the counterculture, and an anti-estblishment attitude among many artists during this time. I clearly recall many people saying things like "I'm tired of all these depressing movies" or "I'm sick of all these movies where everyone either dies or goes crazy". Fortunately for those folks, TV remained mostly escapist fantasy, and a few years later, Spielberg, Lucas and others ushered in a new "blockbuster" era, until by the mid-80s the opposite situation - a film universe of only happy endings and new levels of fantasy - had taken over. As "depressing" as Cabaret and other films of the era might have seemed to some, they represented the last great film era. What's really depressing is how bad most films are today, and what a factory of uninspiring, unchallenging, barely literate, fantasy-obsessed, artless product Hollywood has become.

It's a good question. The times were a bit more open then. It was a period and only recently so where restrictions in film were loosened up alot from say 10 years before where the film may have been quite the controversy.
Also the sexuality in the film is all suggested. You really don't see anything. And the scenes with the transvestites are often played for laughs which also eased it's impact.
When Hal Prince directed the stage play there were threads of the story that were minimized or changed. Prince felt that there were some issues better treaded on a bit more lightly and that the audiences were just a few years away from a more revealing story than they were able to tell. Also if you've seen the 1998 stage version, the show was re-worked not only to include some aspects of the movie, but was also done in a much more revealing manner and also changed the nature of some of the characters especially the MC.
But back to the time of the film. "Last Tango in Paris", which I think came out the same year was indeed a controversial film, but one also that was a critical hit. It, like Midnight Cowboy which came out a year or two earlier were rated X.
So while I wouldn't say the film of Cabaret was controversial back then, it was imho considered an adult film.

Yes it was controversial, I remember. The dancing, singing and dialog is all about sex. Gays were getting noticed due to Stonewall, and their rights were in discussion.

The Nazi aspect on it's own was controversial. The generation who went through it were still alive.

But like all good controversial movies, this aspect made it hotter and people flocked to see it.