Resolve the want at the end of the second act

Paul Joseph Gulino notes that the main tension is not resolved at the end of the picture.

In most cases it is resolved at the end of the second act. In fact, the resolution of the main tension is what characterizes the end of the second act, and in the third act a new dramatic tension almost invariably asserts itself.

In Alfred Hitchcok’s “North by Northwest” (screenplay by Ernest Lehman), the tension surrounding Roger trying to clear his name is resolved 77% of the way into the movie. The third act revolves around the question of saving Eve.

In Steven Speilberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (screenplay by Robert Rodat), Captain Miller decides to abandon his mission 70% of the way into the movie. The third act tension involves defending the bridge from the Germans.

In Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Cabiria” (screenplay by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Pier Paolo Pasolini; novel by Maria Molinari), Cabiria gets her love and respectability when the man of her dreams proposes to her 82& of the way into the movie. The third act tension revolves around her impending marriage and its consequences.