SQL exercises on movie Database: Find the cast list for the movie Chinatown
19. From the following tables, write a SQL query to find the cast list of the movie ‘Chinatown’. Return first name, last name.
Sample table: movie
mov_id | mov_title | mov_year | mov_time | mov_lang | mov_dt_rel | mov_rel_country
--------+----------------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-----------------+------------+-----------------
901 | Vertigo | 1958 | 128 | English | 1958-08-24 | UK
902 | The Innocents | 1961 | 100 | English | 1962-02-19 | SW
903 | Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | 216 | English | 1962-12-11 | UK
904 | The Deer Hunter | 1978 | 183 | English | 1979-03-08 | UK
905 | Amadeus | 1984 | 160 | English | 1985-01-07 | UK
906 | Blade Runner | 1982 | 117 | English | 1982-09-09 | UK
907 | Eyes Wide Shut | 1999 | 159 | English | | UK
908 | The Usual Suspects | 1995 | 106 | English | 1995-08-25 | UK
909 | Chinatown | 1974 | 130 | English | 1974-08-09 | UK
910 | Boogie Nights | 1997 | 155 | English | 1998-02-16 | UK
911 | Annie Hall | 1977 | 93 | English | 1977-04-20 | USA
912 | Princess Mononoke | 1997 | 134 | Japanese | 2001-10-19 | UK
913 | The Shawshank Redemption | 1994 | 142 | English | 1995-02-17 | UK
914 | American Beauty | 1999 | 122 | English | | UK
915 | Titanic | 1997 | 194 | English | 1998-01-23 | UK
916 | Good Will Hunting | 1997 | 126 | English | 1998-06-03 | UK
917 | Deliverance | 1972 | 109 | English | 1982-10-05 | UK
918 | Trainspotting | 1996 | 94 | English | 1996-02-23 | UK
919 | The Prestige | 2006 | 130 | English | 2006-11-10 | UK
920 | Donnie Darko | 2001 | 113 | English | | UK
921 | Slumdog Millionaire | 2008 | 120 | English | 2009-01-09 | UK
922 | Aliens | 1986 | 137 | English | 1986-08-29 | UK
923 | Beyond the Sea | 2004 | 118 | English | 2004-11-26 | UK
924 | Avatar | 2009 | 162 | English | 2009-12-17 | UK
926 | Seven Samurai | 1954 | 207 | Japanese | 1954-04-26 | JP
927 | Spirited Away | 2001 | 125 | Japanese | 2003-09-12 | UK
928 | Back to the Future | 1985 | 116 | English | 1985-12-04 | UK
925 | Braveheart | 1995 | 178 | English | 1995-09-08 | UK
Sample table: movie_cast
act_id | mov_id | role
--------+--------+--------------------------------
101 | 901 | John Scottie Ferguson
102 | 902 | Miss Giddens
103 | 903 | T.E. Lawrence
104 | 904 | Michael
105 | 905 | Antonio Salieri
106 | 906 | Rick Deckard
107 | 907 | Alice Harford
108 | 908 | McManus
110 | 910 | Eddie Adams
111 | 911 | Alvy Singer
112 | 912 | San
113 | 913 | Andy Dufresne
114 | 914 | Lester Burnham
115 | 915 | Rose DeWitt Bukater
116 | 916 | Sean Maguire
117 | 917 | Ed
118 | 918 | Renton
120 | 920 | Elizabeth Darko
121 | 921 | Older Jamal
122 | 922 | Ripley
114 | 923 | Bobby Darin
109 | 909 | J.J. Gittes
119 | 919 | Alfred Borden
Sample table: actor
act_id | act_fname | act_lname | act_gender
--------+----------------------+----------------------+------------
101 | James | Stewart | M
102 | Deborah | Kerr | F
103 | Peter | OToole | M
104 | Robert | De Niro | M
105 | F. Murray | Abraham | M
106 | Harrison | Ford | M
107 | Nicole | Kidman | F
108 | Stephen | Baldwin | M
109 | Jack | Nicholson | M
110 | Mark | Wahlberg | M
111 | Woody | Allen | M
112 | Claire | Danes | F
113 | Tim | Robbins | M
114 | Kevin | Spacey | M
115 | Kate | Winslet | F
116 | Robin | Williams | M
117 | Jon | Voight | M
118 | Ewan | McGregor | M
119 | Christian | Bale | M
120 | Maggie | Gyllenhaal | F
121 | Dev | Patel | M
122 | Sigourney | Weaver | F
123 | David | Aston | M
124 | Ali | Astin | F
Sample Solution:
-- Selecting actor first name (act_fname) and last name (act_lname)
FROM
-- Joining the movie_cast and actor tables using the act_id column
movie_cast c
JOIN actor a ON
c.act_id = a.act_id
-- Filtering the result to include only records where mov_id is equal to the subquery result
Where mov_id = (
-- Subquery: Selecting mov_id from the movie table where mov_title is 'Chinatown'
SELECT mov_id
FROM movie
Where mov_title = 'Chinatown'
);
Sample Output:
act_fname | act_lname
----------------------+----------------------
Jack | Nicholson
(1 row)
Code Explanation :
The said query in SQL that selects the first name and last name of actors who appeared in a specific movie, 'Chinatown'.
The query joins the movie_cast table with the actor table based on the act_id column.
The WHERE clause filters the results to include those actors who appeared in the movie 'Chinatown'. It happens by checking the mov_id column in the movie_cast table against the mov_id of the 'Chinatown' movie. The mov_id is obtained by running a subquery that selects the mov_id from the movie table where the mov_title is 'Chinatown'.
Alternative Solutions:
Using a JOIN and Subquery in ON Clause:
SELECT a.act_fname, a.act_lname
FROM movie_cast c
JOIN actor a ON c.act_id = a.act_id
JOIN movie m ON c.mov_id = m.mov_id AND m.mov_title = 'Chinatown';
Explanation:
This SQL query uses a JOIN to connect the movie_cast, actor, and movie tables. The condition for the JOIN includes both the regular condition and a condition involving a subquery in the ON clause, which filters for the movie with the title 'Chinatown'.
Using EXISTS Clause:
SELECT a.act_fname, a.act_lname
FROM movie_cast c
JOIN actor a ON c.act_id = a.act_id
WHERE EXISTS (
SELECT 1
FROM movie m
WHERE m.mov_id = c.mov_id AND m.mov_title = 'Chinatown'
);
Explanation:
This SQL query uses the EXISTS clause with a subquery to check if there exists a movie with the title 'Chinatown' that matches the mov_id in the movie_cast table. If such a movie exists, the main query includes the corresponding actor.
Using Subquery with IN Clause:
SELECT a.act_fname, a.act_lname
FROM movie_cast c
JOIN actor a ON c.act_id = a.act_id
WHERE c.mov_id IN (SELECT mov_id FROM movie WHERE mov_title = 'Chinatown');
Explanation:
This SQL query uses a subquery with an IN clause to find the mov_id of the movie titled 'Chinatown'. It then joins the movie_cast and actor tables and filters the results for actors associated with any movie that matches the mov_id found in the subquery.
Go to:
PREV : From the following tables, write a SQL query to find those actors who have directed their movies. Return actor first name, last name, movie title and role.
NEXT : From the following tables, write a SQL query to find those movies where actor’s first name is 'Harrison' and last name is 'Ford'. Return movie title.
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