¡Tango! follows a formula established by Carlos Gardel with films such as Luces de Buenos Aires (The Lights of Buenos Aires, 1931) in which a melodramatic story is interspersed with tango songs. However, the film had less dialog and more music, making it more like a musical revue. This format would be copied by many subsequent films. The plot is derived from tango songs. Many of these songs tell of the seduction of an innocent slum girl by a rich man who promises her a glamorous life, but who abandons her when her looks fade. The stylized and sentimental plot of ¡Tango! revolves around a young man who is abandoned by his girlfriend for an older rich man and is heartbroken. The film follows his misfortunes.
The love triangle of a journalist, a political leader and his wife.
Lucy is a woman of shady past who convinces Argüello and Carlos to install an illegal gambling hall on a cabaret that worked legally. When Argüello is interested romantically in her, it rejects it because it is attracted by Carlos, a womanizer singer. The obsession for her leads Argüello to cheat in the game that he holds with Carlos and manages to ruin him, but finally both fight and Argüello dies stabbed but without denouncing his aggressor to recover his self-esteem as a professional player.
