History Film / PaulMcCartneyReallyIsDead

* DearJohnLetter: John, George and Ringo fake a typewritten breakup letter from Paul to Jane Asher (Paul’s RealLife girlfriend from 1963-1968) to prevent her from learning the truth

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Lennon is killed by [=MI5=], who get away with it.]]
* ForTheEvulz: At several points, Maxwell seems to just be threatening the Beatles for the sake of doing so.

* {{Jerkass}}: John and George come off as this; although they are apparently supposed to be torn apart with grief about the death of their friend, the fact that John won't stop including cruel references to "Faul" in everything he does from that point on and George views "Faul" with obvious contempt means that one actually ends up feeling a bit sorry for the impostor. George also makes a point of describing Ringo Starr as having "no real personality or talent" in what is supposed to be ''his last will and testament''.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The movie never reveals who sent Joel the cassettes.

A 2010 'documentary' film by Joel Gilbert, purporting to tell the true story of what happened to Music/PaulMcCartney in 1966. The full title is ''Paul [=McCartney=] Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of Music/GeorgeHarrison''. It's... not very convincing.

The story goes that on July 1, 2005, the filmmakers received an anonymous package containing a microcassette player and two cassettes purporting to be the 'last testament' of George Harrison, recorded shortly after he was attacked and stabbed by a deranged fan in 1999. In it, he describes how an argument between [=McCartney=] and the other [[Music/{{TheBeatles}} Beatles]] in the Abbey Road studios in 1966 ended with [=McCartney=] storming off in his white Aston Martin. Later that evening, the other Beatles are visited by Maxwell, a sinister [=MI5=] operative, who reveals to them that Paul has been killed in a car crash -- something which, if revealed, will cause such horror among starstruck Beatles fans that they will commit mass suicide. What follows is a tense journey into the darker corners of GovernmentConspiracy as the three remaining Beatles find themselves trapped in a sinister conspiracy involving a lookalike and the threat of death hanging over all of them...

* FoundFootageFilms: A variant. The audio is supposedly taken from cassette tapes that the filmmaker, Joel Gilbert, found. The visuals are stock footage and images of the Beatles. Joel says that five years were spend trying to authenticate the tapes, using three different forensic labs, but each test proved inconclusive.

* ShownTheirWork: [[TropesAreNotGood One of the poorer examples]]: "George" apparently believes that the listener of his final testament is going to be completely unaware of the existence and career of Music/TheBeatles, as he takes pains to sum up in detail the history of Music/TheBeatles and every single 'Paul is Dead' 'reference' in the albums and songs.

* {{Jerkass}}: John and George come off as this; although they are apparently supposed to be torn apart with grief about the death of their friend, the fact that John won't stop including cruel references to "Faul" in everything he does from that point on and George views "Faul" with obvious contempt means that one actually ends up feeling a bit sorry for the impostor.

* ShownTheirWork: One of the poorer examples: "George" apparently believes that the listener of his final testament is going to be completely unaware of the existence and career of Music/TheBeatles, as he takes pains to sum up in detail the history of Music/TheBeatles and every single 'Paul is Dead' 'reference' in the albums and songs.

* FoundFootageFilms: A variant. The audio is supposedly taken from cassette tapes that the filmmaker found. The visuals are stock footage and images of the Beatles.

->''"My name is George Harrison. Today is Thursday, 30 December 1999.''

->''I am, at this moment, in the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, England, lucky to be alive. Last night was my worst nightmare. A madman entered my home and attacked me. I desperately tried to stop him! Somehow, apparently, I survived. I don't know why I was attacked. But, I have my suspicions. I asked my wife, Olivia, to fetch me a mini-cassette recorder, so I can put this story on tape, in the hopes that the cassettes will protect me.''

->''It was almost exactly 20 years ago that Music/JohnLennon was also attacked, but killed by a lone assailant. John was always reckless, greeting fans daily outside his New York apartment.''

->''But, there's much more to this story.''

->''20 years ago, John rang me. It was around 1 December 1980, and told me he was going to go public, and tell everything about Paul. 8 days later, he was dead.''

->''For me, it was only two weeks ago that I saw the man known as Music/PaulMcCartney, and told him, I was going to tell the truth about what we had done, that I couldn't keep up the deception any longer.''

->''It seems John's fate was also intended for me, even though so much time has passed. For it was many years ago, in 1966, that my mate and I, promised never to tell this story, that I'm about to tell. It's been a terrible burden of guilt, being part of this great deception, even though there were important reasons for it, which I'll explain.''

->''But first of all, I want to say, how much I loved Paul; how much we all loved Paul - the real Music/PaulMcCartney."''

->''For me, it was only two weeks ago that I saw the man known as PaulMcCartney, and told him, I was going to tell the truth about what we had done, that I couldn't keep up the deception any longer.''

The story goes that on July 1, 2005, the filmmakers received an anonymous package containing a microcassette player and two cassettes purporting to be the 'last testament' of GeorgeHarrison, recorded shortly after he was attacked and stabbed by a deranged fan in 1999. In it, he describes how an argument between [=McCartney=] and the other [[Music/{{TheBeatles}} Beatles]] in the Abbey Road studios in 1966 ended with [=McCartney=] storming off in his white Aston Martin. Later that evening, the other Beatles are visited by Maxwell, a sinister [=MI5=] operative, who reveals to them that Paul has been killed in a car crash -- something which, if revealed, will cause such horror among starstruck Beatles fans that they will commit mass suicide. What follows is a tense journey into the darker corners of GovernmentConspiracy as the three remaining Beatles find themselves trapped in a sinister conspiracy involving a lookalike and the threat of death hanging over all of them...

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Maxwell and his goons are constantly noticing the increasingly obvious references that Music/TheBeatles are including to what's happened in the album covers and music and threatening them with death, but never actually bother to follow through on their threats (at least, not for 10 and 30 years, respectively). The Beatles don't exactly make a lot of effort to hide it either.
* {{Portmanteau}}: John's nickname for the imposter, "False Paul", becomes shorted to "Faul". Near the end of the film, archival footage of the real George talking about Paul on a talk show is distorted so that it sounds like he is really saying "Faul" instead of "Paul."

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Lennon is killed bu [=MI5=], who get away with it.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Lennon is killed bu [[=MI5=]], who get away with it.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Lennon is killed bu [[=MI5=]], who get away with it

* BigBad: Maxwell is the leader of MI5 agents and has [[spoiler: John Lenon killed and tries to do the same with George]].

* {{Jerkass}}: John and George come off as this; although they are apparently supposed to be torn apart with grief about the death of their friend, the fact that John won't stop including cruel references to "Faul" in everything he does from that point on and George views "Faul" with obvious contempt means that one actually ends up feeling a bit sorry for the imposter.

2010 'documentary' film by Joel Gilbert, purporting to tell the true story of what happened to Music/PaulMcCartney in 1966. The full title is ''Paul [=McCartney=] Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of Music/GeorgeHarrison''. It's... not very convincing.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: 'George', on top of not sounding very much like George Harrison, at several points seems to be slipping into Canadian or New Zealand pronunciation.

* TakeThat: The creator obviously does not think much of Paul [=McCartney=]; not only is [=McCartney's=] entire post-1966 contribution to Music/TheBeatles (which, in actuality, was ''a lot'') credited to JohnLennon, he also takes the opportunity to make several snide digs at "Faul" in this guise.

** At one point, "George" also bluntly describes Ringo as 'having no real personality or talent'. This is supposedly ''George Harrison'' describing ''Ringo Starr'' in his final testament. What a ''dick''.

->''It was almost exactly 20 years ago that John Lennon was also attacked, but killed by a lone assailant. John was always reckless, greeting fans daily outside his New York apartment.''

->''"My name is George Harrison. Today is Thursday, 30 December 1990.''

Well, ''actually'' what follows is an exhaustive recounting of all the 'clues' that supposedly reveal the 'Paul is Dead' conspiracy narrated by someone doing a [[OohMeAccentsSlipping very poor impression of George Harrison]], complete with very bad photoshopping and a GovernmentConspiracy Theory which makes very little sense at best. [[SoBadItsGood But it's good for a rather derisive laugh]].

->''I am, at this moment, in the Royal Barkshire Hospital in Redding, England, lucky to be alive. Last night was my worst nightmare. A madman entered my home and attacked me. I desperately tried to stop him! Somehow, apparently, I survived. I don't know why I was attacked. But, I have my suspicions. I asked my wife, Olivia, to fetch me a mini-cassette recorder, so I can put this story on tape, in the hopes that the cassettes will protect me.''

->''20 years ago, John rang me. It was around 1 December 1980, and told me he was going to go public, and tell everything about Paul. 8 days later, he was dead.

->''20 years ago, John rang me. It was around 1 December 1980, and told me he was going to go public, and tell everything about Paul. 8 days later, he was dead. For me, it was only two weeks ago that I saw the man known as PaulMcCartney, and told him, I was going to tell the truth about what we had done, that I couldn't keep up the deception any longer. It seems John's fate was also intended for me, even though so much time has passed. For it was many years ago, in 1966, that my mate and I, promised never to tell this story, that I'm about to tell. It's been a terrible burden of guilt, being part of this great deception, even though there were important reasons for it, which I'll explain.''