Clint Eastwood not please the critics, one writing that "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike'." Two months later Eastwood began work on the third "Dollars" film, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", again playing the mysterious Man with No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned as a ruthless fortune seeker, with Eli Wallach portraying the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. The storyline involved the search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. During the filming of a scene in which a bridge was blown up, Eastwood urged Wallach to retreat to a hilltop. "I know about
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly for Blondie, ocarina for Angel Eyes, and human voices for Tuco. The score complements the film's American Civil War setting, containing the mournful ballad, "The Story of a Soldier", which is sung by prisoners as Tuco is being tortured by Angel Eyes. The film's climax, a three-way Mexican standoff, begins with the melody of "The Ecstasy of Gold" and is followed by "The Trio". Today, the iconic theme is considered one of the greatest instrumental film scores of all time. The main theme also titled "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" was a hit in 1968 with the soundtrack