Goofs for
Michael Collins (1996) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: One of the sailing vessels pictured in the background as Collins, Boland, and Kitty Kiernan walk along the pier in the Dun Laoghaire Harbour is a Dublin Bay Sailing Club Mermaid. This class of 3-man racing dinghy was designed in 1932, 9 years after Collins' death.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Collins' personal car has the registration "15 D1" which is the format of registration adopted in the Republic of Ireland in 1987.
  
  
• Anachronisms: During the raid on Four Courts, over the shoulder of the leftmost soldier a 1980s-vintage bus can be seen.
  
  

• Factual errors: Joe O'Reilly was not with Michael in Beal na mBlath on 22 August 1922.
  
  
• Factual errors: Harry Boland was in America when Michael returned to Ireland with the treaty, not in Dublin as shown in the movie.
  
  
• Factual errors: During the Easter Rising scenes, Collins is shown wearing the uniform of a full Lieutenant in the Irish Volunteers. While there is a photo of him in his Volunteers uniform as a Lieutenant, by the Easter Rising he had been promoted to Captain, where he served as aide de camp to Joseph Plunkett, who is conspicuously absent.
  
  
• Factual errors: Eamonn De Valera is shown surrendering with the General Post Office garrison after the Easter Rising. However, he was actually Commandant of the garrison at Bolland's Mills, which surrendered after the GPO upon receiving orders to stand down. He was never at the GPO during the Rising.
  
  
• Factual errors: Eamonn De Valera is shown surrendering with the General Post Office garrison after the Easter Rising. However, he was actually Commandant of the garrison at Jacob's Biscuit Factory, which surrendered after the GPO upon receiving orders to stand down. He was never at the GPO during the Rising.
  
  
• Errors in geography: During the Easter Rising scenes, the Volunteers and Citizen Army are shown marching out of the General Post Office to surrender. However, the day before the surrender, they had retreated from the burning GPO to another building down the road, and surrendered from there.
  
  
• Anachronisms: During the "Croke Park" scene in Bray, the DART lines are visible in the background.
  
  
• Factual errors: During the 1916 Rising, the GPO garrison didn't surrender at the GPO; they had previously evacuated due to raging fire, and the white flag of surrender was actually displayed at 16 Moore Street, in another part of Dublin, where the leadership was residing.
  
  
• Factual errors: Thomas MacDonagh surrendered at Jacob's Factory; he wasn't present with GPO leaders Pearse, Clarke or Connolly when they surrendered at 16 Moore Street.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Michael Collins is shown wearing a wrist watch. These were developed specifically for World War I airplane fighter pilots. It is far more likely that Collins would have carried a pocket watch during the period the film covers.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the Croke Park scene an armoured car opens fire on the crowd. In reality an armoured car was never used at Croke Park, but several Black and Tan "foot soldiers".
  
  

• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: SPOILER: In the film, it shows Ned Broy (Stephen Rea), a double agent in Dublin Castle being tortured and murdered by the British. While Broy survived the Irish Civil War in real life, the Broy in the film is a composite of both Broy and Dick McKee. Broy's death in the film really happened to McKee.
  
  

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