<P> Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars . Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, and is widely considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre . </P> <P> After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Studios began producing follow - ups: Psycho (franchise), Psycho (1998 film), Bates Motel (film), and Bates Motel (TV series). In 1992, the US Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry . </P> <P> During a lunchtime tryst in Phoenix, Arizona, a real estate secretary named Marion Crane discusses with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, how they cannot afford to get married because of Sam's debts . After lunch, Marion returns to work, where a client drops off a $40,000 cash payment on a property . Her boss asks her to deposit the money in the bank, and she asks if she can take the rest of the afternoon off . Returning home, she begins to pack, deciding to steal the money and give it to Sam in Fairvale, California . She is seen by her boss on her way out of town, which makes her nervous . During the trip, she pulls over on the side of the road and falls asleep, only to be awakened by a state patrol officer . Suspicious about her nervous behavior, he notes her license plate number and follows her at a close distance . Hoping to shake his pursuit, Marion stops at an automobile dealership and trades in her Ford Mainline, with its Arizona license plates, for a Ford Custom 300 that has California tags . </P> <P> Driving on, Marion stops for the night at the Bates Motel . The proprietor, Norman Bates, invites her to a light dinner after she checks in . She accepts, but then hears an argument between Norman and his mother about bringing a woman into her house . They eat in the motel parlor, where he tells her about his life with his mother, who is mentally ill and forbids him to have a life outside of her . Her sense of compassion and responsibility awakened by Norman's story, Marion decides to go back to Phoenix in the morning to return the stolen money, and prepares for bed . As she is showering, a shadowy figure comes in and stabs her to death with a chef's knife . Norman discovers the murder and assumes his mother is responsible . He meticulously cleans up the crime scene, putting Marion's corpse and her possessions--including the embezzled money--into the trunk of her car and sinking it in the swamps near the motel . </P>

Where is the bates motel supposed to be located