Indian Kid 'Wolf' too polite

I liked this touching movie, it's no classic like True Grit, but it's entertaining; having said that:

One problem I always have with Wayne films is their treatment of Native Americans. Wayne's characters "protest too much" in their purported sense of fairness and friendship toward Natives... e.g. Wolf in Rooster Cogburn, or the old chief in Chisum. The only Indian friends Wayne ever has are always in a subordinated or assimilated condition, safely ensconsed in a white world that tolerates "safe" Indians.

True, Chisum's old chief had once, a long time ago, been Wayne's equal, when they were fighting over ranchland territories, but when the film takes place, the chief is "safely" on the reservation. Wayne puts in a good word for the chief and threatens to punish an Army sergeant who speaks disrespectfully to the old man. But something about this just doesn't ring true, emotionally or historically: of COURSE the victorious-over-all Big Duke can afford to be magnanimous to Indians who have _lost_ the war. It costs him nothing.

Same deal with Rooster Cogburn's character Wolf. He's a tame Indian, a Christian - basically a white man under construction. I lost count of how many times he addressed Wayne as "Sir" or "Marshall". For the first three-quarters of the movie, this would have been alright, IF Wolf's character had been allowed to BE a real Indian and not permanently / safely / subordinate to Wayne. But the last part of the film cried out for a father-son dynamic between the two, if not a friendship of equals. Yes, there's the generation gap, and a kid, especially back then, was supposed to be almost fawningly polite to his/her elders. But the fact that this particular kid is an Indian puts him in the Wayne Humble Indian Lineup. He gives Wayne no lip, no sass. Quite the contrary: he shows little "grit" at all, except when executing Wayne's orders (like a good Subordinate Native ought to).

We already know Rooster's story, so naturally most of the exposition must be relegated to Hepburn's character and its burgeoning relationship with Wayne's character. However, Wolf gets almost no exposition, and perhaps only two closeups. Certainly the suspense and emotional tone would have been intensified if Wolf were more fully drawn as a Native American PERSON, rather than as an underling pawn of the screenplay and just one more subdued minority for Wayne to show faux-beneficence toward.