Even in other westerns like the Searchers, the supposed Natives only look like white actors with makeup on.
"What the *beep* is juice?"
--Dave Chappelle
Rudy Acosta was Mexican, but the interesting piece of casting is Michael Pate who was Australian. Pate should have been on the commentary because he did McClintock. I'm surprised Wayne didn't use Acosta and Pate more often.
shareIn the scenes where there are massed Indians riding, Navaho cowboys from New Mexico are used in some quantity. Wayne followed John Ford's lead in using real Indians in the riding scenes.
shareYes, some white actors were used, but a large number of local NAtive Americans were utilized. This is one of the many reasons both Ford and Wayne were highly thought of by the locals, as they brought jobs to the area, both on screen and off.
I don't act...I react. John Wayne
http://knowshowbiz.blogspot.com/
Basically the usual rule in most 50s westerns was that Indian characters would be usually be portrayed by white or "whitish" actors and Indian background figures and (sometimes literal) spear carriers by white or Indian extras depending on various circumstances.
Jay Silverheels was one of several well known Indian actors with a lot of roles in those days.
Michael Pate was one of the most commonly used actors as Indians in movies in those days. He played Vittorio in Hondo, Pachacutec in Secret of the Incas, Gokliya (Geronimo) in three episodes of Broken Arrow, Chief Four Horns (uncle of Sitting Bull) in The Canadians, Watanka in Sergeants 3, Thin Elk in Advance to the Rear, Sierra Charriba in Major Dundee, and Sitting Bull in the Great Sioux Massacre.
Michael Pate also portrayed Captain Benteen in The Seventh Cavalry and thus portrayed men on both sides at the Little Bighorn.
Just like J. Carrol Naish portrayed Sitting Bull in Annie Get your Gun (1950) and Sitting Bull (1954) and General Sheridan in Rio Grande (1950).
The first time I saw Michael Pate was when he played the Vampire Gunslinger in "Curse of the Undead."
To me, as a kid, he was charismatic.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052718/
It's called acting
It's called acting for a reason.
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