All the Kind Strangers (1974)

On an endless cross-country road trip to sunny California, the photo-journalist, Jimmy Wheeler, stumbles upon the flaxen-haired seven-year-old hitch-hiker, Gilbert, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the half-forgotten backwaters of Tennessee. However, as the kind-hearted stranger offers the innocent boy a lift to his farmhouse, Jimmy will soon find himself lured deeper and deeper into the wilderness, up against the unforeseen consequences of his generous benevolence. Is it true that no good deed goes unpunished?