It was 71 years ago this week that the airliner boarded by British screen stalwart Leslie Howard was tragically shot down over the Bay of Biscay. We’ve got more movie milestones to share.

Ripley? Believe it or not, it’s been 25 years since jolted audiences were dropping their popcorn with the opening of Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi shocker Alien. We’re just bursting with movie minutiae to share.

It was exactly 15 years ago this week that a new opening-day box-office record was set by George Lucas’ long-anticipated prequel, Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. We’ve got more Tinseltown tidbits than you can shake a lightsaber at.

It was exactly 80 years ago this week that a slap-happy trio known as The Three Stooges hit the big screen in their first Columbia short and a four-year-old wonder named Shirley Temple made her first musical for Fox. Read about these and other notable Hollywood anniversaries below.

It’s been exactly 70 years since MGM released the short subject Dancing Romeo, and we bid adieu to the remarkable 22-year run of “Our Gang.” We’ve got even more reel recollections to rattle off.

It’s been 43 years since the “blaxploitation” cycle of the ’70s got its launch with the opening of Melvin Van Peebles’ indie urban actioner Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. We’ve more stops on the Tinseltown timeline to make.

It’s been exactly 95 years since Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks pooled their talents and resources to form United Artists Corporation. We’ve got many more movie milestones to share.

It’s been exactly 35 years since life came perilously close to imitating art, as the reactor accident at Three Mile Island occurred 12 days after the opening of The China Syndrome. We went fission for more film factoids to forward.

It’s been 68 years since Rita Hayworth did that stuff with her hair in the sizzling romantic noir staple Gilda. You can put the blame on us for the other Tinseltown tidbits we’ve got to share.

It was exactly 75 years ago that B-movie cowpoke John Wayne hit the A-list to stay, with the opening of John Ford’s game-changing sagebrush saga Stagecoach. You can take the reins on the rest of our fascinating film factoids.