Our main interest in watching this film was the presence of Patrick Dewaere, one of France's best actors of his generation, sadly no longer alive, and Claude Miller's film debut. Not having seen it, the occasion arose when it was shown on a French international cable network.

The story is set in a summer camp where counselors have different groups of boys under their care. Marc, one of the leaders of the men in charge, is a popular man among his peers and the boys under him. Philippe, a quiet young man has a group he is rehearsing for a play in which his boys will participate. The play includes a boy in drag, impersonating a princess in the fantasy he is directing. Philippe happens to be the son of the camp director, but like the others, he does not receive special privileges.

One day Marc, passing by Philippe's room, catches him dressing as a woman, something that shocks him as well as surprises him. Marc begins acting strangely, but there is no actual confrontation about what he perceived as Philippe's odd behavior. Philippe begins to feel the other counselors' sneers, although no one openly accuses him of anything specific. All that comes to an end when Marc takes it upon himself to harass Philippe.

The object of Marc's revenge is Chantal, a woman whose picture Philippe keeps on his window. In Marc's mind, he believes there is something wrong with Philippe in pursuing a woman, when in reality he must crave after men. To prove he is 'normal' Philippe forces himself upon Chantal with terrible results. Marc's masculinity is pitted against Philippe's own ambivalence. Everything comes to a head during the performance Philippe is staging as he comes out dressed as a woman who goes against Marc in a bullfighter's costume.

"The Best Way to Walk" was an ambitious project, even for the more liberal French cinema. It was a film that freed taboos, as male nudity is shown in full view. Claude Miller showed daring in his approach to the material. The all male camp was probably a hotbed for acts of homosexuality, which seems to be reinforced by the way Philippe behaves in his relationship with his young charges and the way he dressed when he was alone. Written by Mr. Miller and Luc Beraud, this was a film ahead of its times.

The intense Patrick Dewaere made an impact in his take of Marc. He was an actor that always delivered, as he does in here. If Mr. Dewaere was good, his co-star Patrick Bouchitay made quite an impression as Philippe. This actor, who had it all, suffered from type casting after the completion of the picture, something sad because he probably missed on a lot of opportunities where to shine. Christine Pascal appeared as Chantal, the love interest of Philippe. A young Michel Blanc is seen as Deloux.

From my point of view Miller is uneven; I disliked for example his tampering with Checkhov in La Petite Lili as much as I enjoyed his Betty Fisher and/or Garde Vue. Now thirty years old The Best Way To Walk probably qualifies as 'middle period' and is no worse for that. There will be those who will see echoes of Ben Gazzara's Jocko de Paris (End As A Man) and point to the similarities between a France Holiday camp and an American Military Academy albeit such comparisons don't really hold water. Irwin Shaw was writing about Summer Camps at around the same time, notably in Voices Of A Summer Day and he was, of course, an ex-counsellor himself but Claude Miller has been reasonably creative in his portrayal of a warts-and-all boys camp in rural France and a particularly intense love-hate relationship destined to end in tears. The acting is uniformly excellent though both leading actors were unable to realise their potential - one died prematurely the other was unfairly typecast as a 'drag queen' and had to watch the work dry up. Released in 1976 this was a refreshing antidote to the left-over pretentiousness of the New Wave and arguably one of the key films of 1970s French Cinema.

Claude Miller's most important work is today stronger than it was in 1976.It's a must ,the French cinema at its most ambitious ,at its deepest,at its best.And nothing intellectual,nothing to do with the nouvelle vague pretentiousness,"la meilleure façon de marcher" is accessible to all those who have eyes and ears.

It features one of the strongest actors confrontations which can be seen on a screen:the sadly missed Dewaere and the subtle Bouchitey literally live their part,they are so real we have the very rare feeling of knowing them intimately.So intense Bouchitey's performance was that afterward he did not get the roles he did deserve:the directors stayed with the picture of a "drag queen" .

"La meilleure façon de marcher" pits the virile macho boy against the intellectual sensitive guy.It brings out the mechanics of the humiliation.It deals with the demanding subject of our "skeletons in the closet" ,our hidden odd habits ,all that we want to hide from the outside world.It would be too simple to consider Philippe's one (dressing up as a woman)as a very rare occurrence ."I'm sure I could find something in your room" he screams to Marc,who has discovered his secret and then makes him his punching bag.In a world in seclusion such as a boys holiday camp in 1960,where women are absent (with the exception of Philippe's fiancée,who only appears in the second part),there are secrets beyond any door:from the children who hide a pornographic paper under a Mickey Mouse comic strip to the epileptic counselor who 's got dirty pictures under his pillow.And the ones who

look "normal",like the hairy Marc,are they as "straight" as they seem?

Marc is probably in love with Philippe and as he cannot bring himself to take the plunge ,he humiliates him to death .Hatred rises ,reaching unbelievable heights,culminating in this unbearable scene when Marc forces Philippe to eat his own vomit.

The dialog is close to perfection:full of allusions,of threatening sentences,of veiled accusations;and what is left unsaid is all the more disturbing.Most of the time,we really feel ill-at -ease.That's why Claude Pieplu's part is so necessary:a comic relief ,his suggestion box is irresistibly funny.Deprived of these hilarious sequences,the movie would be desperate.

But Claude Miller wanted his demeaned characters to rebel;the first one in the pool where the one of the counselors says f..... you to the director.But the best comes when Philippe,in his woman's dress (A Spanish dancer) invites Marc ,dressed up as a toreador ,to dance.You should notice that in Marc's room,there was a poster of a toreador fighting a bull."What's making me itch,is making you itch too!" he cries out as his persecutor pretends to find it funny but in fact has to force himself to laugh.

Miller's intelligence shines in the last sequence too when he puts his characters back in "normal " life.The two "enemies" act as if nothing happened .Their behaviour stems from the establishment which does not know deviancy .Now that Philippe exists socially speaking,he's respectable ,even if he does not plan to get marry -as Marc is -,he's no longer a victim.Generally you find punching bags in schools ,holiday camps or barracks,in places where frustration leads to search for someone to spit at (generally people who do not like sports,like in Minnelli 's 'tea and sympathy ",which certainly influenced Miller)).

A film that cannot be praised too highly.