It washes memories off the sidewalk of life"); he ended up swinging his arm wildly - gesturing and sending an Oscar Peterson record out of its album cover to crash against the wall, and as he leaned over a chair, he clumsily tipped it overlater in the evening during their Chinese restaurant (Hong Fat Noodle Co.It was the first film with an official soundtrack and the first film o release a motion picture soundtrack album.Although the film was nominated for four Academy Awards nominations (without recognition for director Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader, or cinematographer Michael Chapman): Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score (Bernard Herrmann, nominated posthumously -- Herrmann passed away shortly after completing his work in this film) - all were unrewarded.The film reflected the dire effects of the Great Depression on the common man in its story of a WWI veteran who faced unemployment, was unjustly convicted of a petty robbery, and then twice served and escaped from a southern chain gang as a hunted fugitive during he 1920s.