"The Long Good Friday" - Criminally Underrated (Sound Design Thoughts)

Okay, so I just rewatched The Long Good Friday (1980), and man, what a flick. It's not just Bob Hoskins' powerhouse performance (which is insane, btw), but I'm really struck by how well the sound design holds up. Like, the tension is palpable throughout, and a lot of that is thanks to the subtle creaks and groans of the docks, the hum of the city, and that almost constant, low-level threat in the score. Anyone else pick up on how they used sound to build that atmosphere? Specifically, there's that scene where Harold's car gets blown up. The silence right after the explosion is deafening, before it's quickly broken by the almost cartoonish (but totally effective) sound of the car alarm going off. It's like, a perfect encapsulation of the chaos and betrayal that's hitting Harold all at once. And then, the final scene, where Harold's in the back of the car… the sound of the engine, the distant sirens… It just sells that feeling of utter, inescapable doom. I'm curious, did anyone else notice any other specific moments where the sound design really stood out? I'm always looking to learn more about how these classic films achieved these effects with the limited technology they had back then. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I genuinly think The Long Good Friday is a masterclass in tension building, and the sound plays a HUGE part. One last thing, I couldn't help but notice the special effects aren't quite polished compared to modern movies. I wonder if they were going for something more realistic or did budget constraints limit their technical capabilities?